The Rangers played one of their more complete games Tuesday in defeating the Stars 6-2. Dallas, playing its seventh game in 11 nights and third straight against the Metro Division, looked a step slow all evening long. New York was able to advantage of that by going more north-south rather east-west, as has been the case during their recent poor stretch of play.
One of the bigger pluses in the contest was the play of the newly constituted Rick Nash-Derek Stepan-Jayson Megna line. Megna, or Liquidhotmegna, as he is now being called by Marc Staal and others, called up to take the place of Chris Kreider, who was out with a lacerated right hand, showed good speed while on the wing. More important, that trio was able to cycle and maintain possession of the puck in the offensive zone, an aspect that has been sorely lacking on this team.
Not all was perfect, as Dallas started to take back control of the game when it was 5-1, cutting it to 5-2 and almost 5-3 before that latter goal was rightly overturned in review. Before that, the own zone coverage was much better and the team really clamped down on Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. As Dallas started to come back, either New York relaxed too much or the Stars utilized their talent, enabling them to make quick passes to open spaces.
New York has alternated wins and losses the last five games. The really good sign is that they have held Tampa, Florida and Dallas to less than 25 shots on goal in each. However, several of those shots came from prime scoring areas and the Blueshirts did block 20 shots last night, so there is still work to be done. What was most encouraging is that mentally they didn't fold, as they had against Nashville and others in that 5-11-2 stretch.
The biggest play of the game, as Larry Brooks pointed out, might have been a save by Henrik Lundqvist late on the first period. Lundqvist came into the game 5-8-1, 3.46, .885 while also allowing four or more goals in seven of his 15 games. In addition, he already had the specter of allowing a soft goal by John Klingberg on his ledger for this contest. Keith Yandle scored 18 seconds after that Klingberg to regain the lead for NY. With 90 seconds left in the first, Seguin and Patrick Sharp came down on a 2-on-1. A goal allowed and all the good feelings built up in the period would be lost. Lundqvist slid to his left, stoning Sharp's one-timer, preserving the lead and possibly the win.
Stepan, who scored two goals, his first since returning from his rib injury, including the team's first shorthanded market of the year, and Megna, who had a goal and assist, were driven by Nash, who had three assists. While it was just one game, Megna took advantage of the opportunity given or gifted to him with Kreider out. While there was a bit of a Twitter war on whether Emerson Etem have been afforded similar chances, what we do know is that he failed to utilize the chances given to him and will be on the pine for at least the next little while. I doubt the Rangers try and send him down and risk losing him and maybe they can find a taker in a small deal but his value is so low, not much would come back with him. But moving him would clear a roster spot and possibly create cap room.
With Megna in and Etem out, there still remains a roster crunch once Kreider returns. Jesper Fast, Viktor Stalberg or Tanner Glass are the likely candidates to come out. Since its Washington, Glass may stay in due to Tom Wilson, though if Dylan McIlrath, who has been scratched the last four games is in, the need for Glass may be minimized. I thought Hayes had a pretty solid game in his return to the lineup. Simple and straight forward and he helped create Stalberg's goal by his puck possession and patience. There are still areas to work on but I believe he earned another game Saturday.
I noted the other day that despite his struggles, Nash was stepping up to be a leader. That leadership was evident on the ice but also off it after the game. Nash said yesterday, "I think we’ve been trying to focus on defense, defense-first. That’s when we’ve had our success in past years. And I feel like each game we’re getting better. We’re coming back in our own zone, we’re stopping, we’re not circling. It’s a huge key, especially against offensive teams like them.… … and about the ferocity level and speed and being on pucks and competing, he said, “I think in here we’ve got to understand the urgency of the time of season it is, look at the standings and, you know, you lose a few more games here and you’re outside looking in.… Say what you want about his spotty performance, the effort hasn't waned and he has stepped up in the locker room to fill some of the gap created when MSL retired and following departure of Ryan Callahan.
The Rangers haven’t won back-to-backs since Nov. 21-23, which was then followed by the 5-11-2 streak before yesterday's win. As noted above, they have alternated wins and losses the last five and are now 2-2 in this rough patch of games. A major test comes Saturday when Washington is in town. A win and strong performance will go a long way to showing they are truly back on the right path.