ST. LOUIS – Good point for the Rangers, thought Mikael Samuelsson, who created it last night with second goal of the game with 6:22 remaining.
“Good team like St. Louis and on the road,” he said about the 4-4 tie before getting to the real point, the one the Rangers didn’t get on a night two of the teams they are chasing for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot lost and another, Tampa Bay, went down in overtime.
“We really needed two,” said Samuelsson, which will be the bottom line from here on in, whether you want to believe that last night’s rallies from 3-2 and 4-3 deficits were a true sign “we’re getting better,” as Glen Sather says, or shake your head at an early 2-0 Ranger lead gone before the end of the first period, thanks to a shorthanded goal and another one off another mindless neutral-zone penalty, this one by Petr Nedved.
For the third time in three games since Glen Sather went behind the bench, the Rangers played with energy. And for the third time they also failed to get a win.
So, asked if he sees the team playing smarter, Bobby Holik, who banked in the game-opening goal of the befuddled Brent Johnson after only 34 seconds, said “at times” which of course, also means at times not.
There were a few more dumb penalties and a bad clear on a line change that led to the Blues’ fourth goal, and too many times the Rangers didn’t get the puck deep enough. The real progress was represented behind a bench that finally appears being run with common sense, starting with Sather’s goaltending choice last night of Daniel Blackburn.
It was the kid’s first start since Jan. 9, and only the second since the acquisition of Mike Dunham, who suffered a slight groin pull in the loss to Ottawa on Wednesday night, but according to Sather, wasn’t going to play here anyway.
Blackburn gave up a goal by Steve Martins from just inside the blue line to start the Blues back and too many rebounds, two of which the Blues converted. But he did get stronger after a big save on Keith Tkachuk in the second period, making another on Tkachuk down the stretch, quickly followed by an Al MacInnis patented Howitzer.
Considering the rust, it was a good turn by Blackburn that deserved another tomorrow afternoon in Philadelphia. But even if not, Sather is recognizing the basic insanity of riding Dunham until he drops, as Blackburn did before the veteran’s acquisition.
The coach also is clearly getting his best players out on the ice more, just common sense for a team that has little depth. Eric Lindros played 26:16 and well last night – just like Holik, who logged 24:11.
If 20:17 seemed high for Mark Messier on the second of back-to-back nights, it’s hard to be too critical, even after he failed to take out Pavol Demitra on a walkout on Blues goal No. 3.
The Captain’s passout, enabled when Jamie Lundmark tipped the puck from Tyson Nash behind the net, set up Samuelsson’s tying goal 45 seconds after St. Louis had taken its final lead after a Ranger clear hit a skates of an oncoming teammate and bounced to Scott Mellanby, suddenly two-on-one against Messier with Tkachuk.
Mellanby threw an impressive backhand pass past Messier, and Tkachuk had an easy tap, but the Blues continued to play their “B” game and the Rangers took advantage, just not enough.