The NHL has become a league in which offense no longer can be relegated to the forwards. Just ask Rangers coach Alain Vigneault, who didn’t even hesitate after Monday night’s comeback 4-3 overtime win over the Coyotes to make what now is a common declaration.
“If you’re going to score in this league, you need your back end,” he said, just minutes after he got consecutive goals from Dan Girardi, tying the game late in the third period, and Ryan McDonagh, winning it in the extra period.
“You need your back end to support the attack, and to break out clean out of your zone and help out on the rush,” Vigneault said. “Both McDonagh and Girardi were at the right spots at the right time.”
That would be something the Rangers would love to repeat come Wednesday night, when the Flyers come to the Garden in an important Metropolitan Division matchup. On the same night the Rangers came back from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 to beat Phoenix and bank their fourth win in a row, the Flyers fought back from a 2-0 hole of their own to tie the visiting Kings — only to lose it on a third-period goal from Dwight King.
So although Philadelphia comes up the Jersey Turnpike with two games in hand on the Blueshirts — the Rangers with nine games remaining, the Flyers with 11 — Vigneault’s team still holds a one-point lead for second place in the division. As the Rangers prepare to take off on a four-game trip through Western Canada, starting Friday in Calgary, the home-ice implications to Wednesday’s game — along with some breathing room in the race for any postseason spot — are weighing heavily on both teams.
“[The Flyers] have a really good team,” forward Derick Brassard said on Monday night. “Basically, we can’t say we’re going to play for home ice because there are a lot of teams competing with us. But it’s going to mean a lot. We just have to be ready.”
Likely that readiness starts with Girardi and McDonagh and their ability not just to shut down the opposing team’s top line, but to chip in offense when they can. This is a breakout season for McDonagh in a couple of ways, none more obvious than the fact he has a career high in goals (12) and assists (29) while playing all 73 games.
“We are getting better chemistry with each other,” McDonagh said of the defensive corps as a whole, “and understanding situations, when you need to take risks and jump in.”
McDonagh’s overtime winner came with him charging to the goalmouth, then putting home a rebound off a point shot from — who else? — Girardi. When the Rangers were trailing 3-2 with just under four minutes remaining in regulation, it was Girardi finding himself just in front of the right post, tipping in a long shot from — come on, you should know by now — McDonagh.
“I don’t know where we’d be without that pair,” Brad Richards said. “It’s fun to be out there when they’re moving around like that, all over the ice.”
With his 42 points, McDonagh ranked 12th among all defensemen in scoring before play Tuesday night. Girardi now has five goals, and four of them have come in third periods. They are also a combined plus-17, with time for each on both of the special teams.
So, invaluable might be a good word to use for the pair, especially in a league in which players such as them have become absolutely necessary.
“In order to get on the score sheet and score some goals in this league,” Vigneault said, “your defensemen need to chip in.”