Blueshirts end four-game skid Rangers 4 Capitals 1 WASHINGTON – There’s no such thing in the NHL as getting points for style, and that’s just fine for the Rangers, who wouldn’t have gotten a single one off much of their performance here last night.
But you do earn points for victories, two for each, and that’s all the Rangers care about now in their uphill climb not only to a playoff spot but back into the conference playoff race.
And because they persevered, because Mike Richter was outstanding, because Adam Graves continued his revival season and because The Great Gretzky shined in the glow of his 38 birthday candles, the Rangers got those two points with a 4-1 victory over the Caps.
So the losing streak was snipped at four, and in winning for the first time since Jan. 13, the 11th-place Rangers picked up points on Pittsburgh, Boston and Florida, three of the four teams immediately in front of them in the standings. Montreal, 10th, stayed right there with a victory.
“We know where we are in the standings, we know where the teams are in front of us,” said Brian Leetch, who himself had an excellent game. “We know what we’re going to have to accomplish in order to make the playoffs.
“We don’t need to have any more meetings; you can only have so many team meetings. It has to be done on the ice.”
The Rangers had scored a combined three goals in their four consecutive defeats. Last night, they scored once at five-on-five, once on the power play, once while short-handed and once into the empty net. It left them one shy of the landmark established by Mario Lemieux, who once did all that plus scoring on a penalty shot in a game against the Devils during the 1988-89 season.
“A single, double, triple and home run,” said coach John Muckler.
The home runs were hit most of the night by Richter, who kept the Rangers alive and in position to steal one with a marvelous second period in which his team went 13:50 without a shot on Olie Kolzig while being outshot 15-1 through the first 16 minutes. Richter was agile, if at times frantic, making close-in saves on his back and belly in addition to using his torso, stick, blocker and glove.
“You have to have that kind of goaltending in order to be successful at this level,” said Birthday Boy Gretzky, who recorded three assists and played with the same jump and flair (and graphite, rather than wood, shaft) as he had while winning the All-Star MVP in Tampa on Sunday. “Michael gave us the opportunity to win the game, no question about it.”
It was 1-1 going into the second after Graves’ PPG conversion off feeds from Gretzky and John MacLean at 11:51 had been negated by Adam Oates’ score at 18:04. And it was still 1-1 going into the third because, though the Rangers were dreadful in their own end of the ice, Richter played so well.
“We held on,” Muckler acknowledged.
Into the third, the coach sat Marc Savard, who had been in trouble all night in his own end, and replaced him with Manny Malhotra. It marked the second time in five games that Malhotra has gotten the third-line slot in the third period – the same occurred against the Blackhawks on Jan. 15 – and it would be no surprise now if the 18-year-old freshman receives more and more responsibility.
“Manny was really strong in our end, read plays well, was strong on the forecheck,” said Muckler, who showed his confidence in the youngster by putting him on for a defensive-zone draw against Oates with 5:42 to play. “He’s played really well the last four games.
“He’s improving.”
Meanwhile, the Rangers improved in last night’s third period. They took the lead at 1:37 when Mathieu Schneider jumped into the right circle to pound a rebound off a Gretzky rush and shoot past Kolzig. Once in the lead, the Rangers then simply took the game away from Washington. The rest of the way, the Rangers were stronger, faster and much, much better than the 12th-place Caps. Once Niklas Sundstrom scored a short-hander at 12:34, the competition was over.
Not over was the night for Gretzky, who was revived last season by his Olympic experience and still seemed energized by his All-Star weekend. All at once, and almost comically, the world has rediscovered The Great One.
“I was at the All-Star Game and watched Gretz very closely,” said Muckler. “Things were working for him, he was having some fun. He had a big smile on his face.
“It looked like he was having fun tonight.”
Gretzky had some fun at his own expense after the match. With 1:40 to go and Kolzig already pulled, an open net staring at him from the right circle, Gretzky somehow finessed a shot off the outside of the net. Thirty-eight seconds later, Gretzky fed Graves at the goal mouth for the winger’s second of the night and 21st of the year.
So someone asked 99 about the one that got away.
His answer: “I never missed that shot when I was under the age of 38.”