Before Henrik Lundqvist held the fort, saved the Rangers from the ignominy and indignity of a sweep and the Kings dancing on an icy Garden grave, before the puck stopped there in the snow behind him at the furious, frantic, frenzied finish and Derek Stepan gloved it out of harm’s way, it was his fellow countryman, Anton Stralman, who saved them.
How Swede it was Wednesday night for the Rangers, 2-1 Game 4 winners in the Stanley Cup finals.
It was 1-0 for the Rangers with the Kings on the power play, when an Alec Martinez screamer wound up sliding toward the net, and Jeff Carter, planted in front of the net, whiffed on it. The puck, with a mind of its own, began moving toward the red goal line at a snail’s pace behind Lundqvist, seemingly an inexorable crawl to Blueshirt hell.
Finally, the hockey gods who had been so cruel to the Rangers decided to smile on them in their hour of need.
With a second sweep of his stick, Stralman swept away nightmare visions of a sweep.
If you are a dreamer, you tell yourself that the making of any Miracle on Ice —the prayer that the Rangers can yet become the second team to overcome an 0-3 series deficit alongside the 1942 Maple Leafs, surely must begin with one tiny Miracle on Ice. Or two.
“It’s one of those things you need a little luck,” Stralman said. “He [Carter] was going to jump on it because he’s right in the slot there with me. I tried to get his stick out first and just keep it there, to buy myself some time to do that second effort to keep it out.”
The moral of the story: Sometimes it is better to be puck lucky than good.
“I just saw it sitting there,” Marc Staal said. “I think they had a stick close to it, and Stral just kind of stuck with it and was able to get a stick on it and not let it cross.
“Those are tough. When you’re in the moment, you got to keep calm and make sure that you’re not just whacking away at it because you can hit it in your own net. He did a good job of just staying calm and putting it back underneath Hank.”
Stepan: “Just trying to do whatever we can to make sure that we find a way to keep pucks out of our net.”
Shift by shift, faceoff by faceoff, hit by thunderous hit, period by period, the Rangers made their last stand.
Shot by shot, save by save, the Rangers fought for their playoff lives.
Power play by power play, penalty kill by penalty kill, the Rangers tried desperately to keep the Stanley Cup dream alive and prevent the indignity of a sweep, and a long offseason of regret.
Forecheck by forecheck, backcheck by backcheck, bodycheck by bodycheck, the Rangers left it all on the ice.
“Every little play matters,” Lundqvist said.
Stralman’s play was much more than a little play.
“Anton plays top minutes. He’s been real steady managing the puck. He’s defended really well. He’s really an important player for us,” coach Alain Vigneault said.
Stralman also contributed an early hip check on Drew Doughty against the boards.
“Most guys will stand up,” Stralman said, and smiled. “I’ll use my hip.”
Over the second half of the game, the Kings were relentless, they stormed Lundqvist, rained pucks on him.
“I think we sat back a little bit too much,” said Stepan, who prevented another goal by shoving a similar loose puck under Lundqvist witth 1:11 to play. “Obviously, you want to try to play on your toes as much as you can, but again, it’s all about finding ways to win hockey games.”
They need to find ways to win three more hockey games.
The Cup half-filled crowd will convince itself puck luck is the residue of design.
“We didn’t want to see the Cup coming out on our ice tonight,” Lundqvist said. “Just the thought of it makes me … feel sick. Obviously the goal is to see it for Game 7.”
Probably not Stanley Cup bound.
But at least westward bound.