So maybe this shootout victory over the Sabres in Game 20 will galvanize the Rangers.
Maybe this 3-2 triumph at the Garden, in which the Blueshirts responded to a dangerous cheap shot against Brad Richards delivered by Patrick Kaleta — one of the NHL’s most notorious henchmen — and then killed a pair of penalties in overtime will prove a tipping point in what has been a teeter-totter season.
Maybe the anger over seeing Richards fly head-first into the boards when hit from behind that the Rangers were able to channel into positive energy will launch this team out of the morass of mediocre clubs with which they’ve been enmeshed and into the East’s upper echelon.
“I think a hit like that immediate brings emotions to a boil,” Marc Staal said of the hit from behind at 3:28 of the third for which Kaleta received a five-minute major and a game misconduct. “When you see one of your guys cheap-shotted like that it immediately raises your antenna and intensity.
“But you want to make sure your emotions don’t get the best of you. You’re angry, you’re [ticked] off, but you know that you have to maintain your focus.”
The Rangers, already on a power play while trailing 1-0, did just that, scoring twice within 43 seconds, Derek Stepan converting from the doorstep on the five-on-three at 3:35 to tie the game before Rick Nash — The Big Easy — wristed one from the right circle at 4:18 for a 2-1 lead.
That edge evaporated when Nathan Gerbe scored a shorthanded goal as the Kaleta penalty was winding down, but the Rangers continued to play with an edge in a game that turned from dozy into a doozie after Richards went down.
“Richie takes a lot of hits, and he puts his body on the line for the team,” Nash said. “You never want to see that kind of thing happen, you never want to see that kind of hit — we’re all in this career together — but when it did, you want to make sure to step up.”
The Big Easy beat Ryan Miller on a nifty move leading off the shootout before Ryan Callahan also scored while Henrik Lundqvist was stuffing the two Sabres he faced in the skills competition. Callahan is 3-for-3 this year in the one-on-one and 5-for-7 the last two years after going 1-for-9 to start his career.
It was a feat for the Blueshirts simply to get to the shootout after being forced to play two men down for 33 seconds of the OT and a man short for the first 2:54 (and the final 14 seconds of regulation).
Staal was a beast, indomitable, on the ice for the final 1:10 of regulation, the first 3:07 of OT and 3:52 overall of the extra session. For his work, No. 18 got a hearty congratulatory slap across the chest from coach John Tortorella in the locker room.
“It was tough to stay composed, but we did a great job of maintaining our poise,” Staal said. “It was especially tough because it was [Kaleta], a guy who very rarely backs it up and is either on the bench or is getting kicked out of a game.
“But we did that. We didn’t get carried away.”
The Rangers didn’t get carried away but maybe this one can carry them as they head into Tuesday’s Garden match against the Flyers for their second in a stretch of five games in eight days.
Maybe the Blueshirts, who have just been too easy of an opponent to play against, can bottle the anger and emotion that the Kaleta cheap shot evoked. Maybe, finally, the Rangers proved that they can be feisty even with Brandon Prust long gone.
Maybe the Rangers — 10-8-2 overall, 10-5-1 with Nash in the lineup — are ready to rock … and roll.