OTTAWA – The goal-scorers scored, the power play continued its revival, and the goaltender played up to his usual standards.
But the work from and poise displayed by the fourth line as personified by Colton Orr, were equally important ingredients in the Rangers’ decisive 5-2 victory here yesterday afternoon over the skidding Senators, a conference-leading team that’s dropped six straight.
It was Orr who turned away from Brian McGrattan’s challenge to drop the gloves with just under six minutes to go in the first period and with the Rangers on top 3-0. And it was Orr who two minutes later skated away from Dany Heatley’s taunts, too.
“Colton told me on the bench [that turning away from McGrattan] was one of the hardest things he’s had to do,” Tom Renney said after the victory lifted the 15-9-2 Blueshirts to within two points of 16-7-2 Ottawa. “But Colton has been playing with great discipline and, like all our players, understands that it’s all about the team, and all about winning.
“That other stuff [fighting] will always be there, but we want it to be on our terms.”
The Rangers dictated the terms of yesterday’s match pretty much from the opening shift, jumping on a fragile club with fragile goaltending to score three times on their first 11 shots against Martin Gerber. The Blueshirts carried the play physically, winning battles, taking the body, and thus created time and space for their skill forwards.
“Five-on-five, I thought we were dominating,” said Jaromir Jagr, who scored on a ripping 30-foot, power-play wrist shot midway through the first for his third goal in the last three games. “We jumped on every loose puck, we drew penalties.”
In addition to Jagr, Brendan Shanahan also scored a power-play goal for the Blueshirts, 2-for-5 for the second straight game after going 3-for-39 their previous eight. Shanahan added a second goal at even strength as the Rangers, 4-2 winners on Thursday against the Islanders, scored at least four goals in regulation in two in a row for the first time.
“I thought we played a great game,” said Henrik Lundqvist, who wasn’t tested often early but was sharp as necessary when Ottawa mounted a 24-shot attack over the final 28:00 after sending nine volleys on net the first 32 minutes. “The key for us, too, was that we got really good games from all four lines, not just one or two.”
Marcel Hossa played a strong, big-bodied game in freeing pucks while getting assists on the first two goals. Marek Malik, paired with Michal Rozsival after missing 13 straight with back issues, was very steady. Fedor Tyutin was a menacing physical presence, drilling Heatley into the wall late in the first without facing reprisal.
And, too, there was the fourth line of Orr, Blair Betts (who sealed it with an empty-netter) and Ryan Hollweg, a trio Renney entrusted with several third-period shifts against Ottawa’s Heatley-Jason Spezza-Daniel Alfredsson super unit.
“I don’t want to say that Colton is a deterrent in the strict sense of the word, but he is a deterrent in that he’s big and strong, and able to get the puck and make plays,” said Renney.
And the Rangers, 12-3-1 in their last 16 with Carolina coming to the Garden tomorrow night, can frame yesterday’s victory.