Rangers 4
Lightning 2
After it had ended, after the Rangers had reached back for a little bit more to avert an 0-4 homestand, you bet the Blueshirts didn’t mind admitting the victory over the Lightning was all but imperative.
“For me, personally, I know how tough it would have been to go to Ottawa on Monday if we lost this game,” Jaromir Jagr said. “I think would we have been in trouble.”
Trouble with a capital “T,” and that rhymes with “P,” which are the initials of Tom Poti. “T” and “P” also rhyme with “B,” which is the first letter of “Booooooooo,” which is what Poti usually hears from the Garden gallery. But not last night, after his 40-foot power play drive at with 1:48 left in regulation proved the winner in the eventual 4-2 victory.
“Of course it’s nice to hear the cheers,” Poti said. “But primarily, it’s nice that we can enjoy the next couple of days off over the holiday without having to deal with a four-game losing streak.”
Tom Renney had been resolute in expressing his belief in his team and his team’s core values, even in the midst of a goal freeze in which the team had scored four times in the three straight losses and 19 times in eight games while going 3-4-1. He’d played down the urgency to win, even while focusing on the need to recommit to detail.
Even the coach – who scratched first-line center Michael Nylander from the match in the wake of No. 92’s four-penalty misadventure against the Devils on Tuesday – admitted the victory was needed to validate the program, after it had been achieved.
“You bet,” Renney said. “We’ve invested a lot of effort into this whole thing and we’ve achieved a reasonable record, as a result.
“We don’t want to relinquish that.”
Back to 10 over.500, the Rangers were more energetic, grittier, quicker to the puck and more determined to win battles. Maybe some of it even had to do with the coach’s decision to scratch Nylander. Really, how many first-line centers are ever scratched in this league?
And really? How many would accept it so professionally as did Nylander, who essentially seconded his coach’s decision to sit him out?
“It doesn’t matter who you are,” Nylander said following the morning skate. “Tom said it before a long time ago that if you get penalties, you’re going to be out. I didn’t want it to happen to me, but it’s fair.
“It’s a strong move for him. It tells the team that what he says, he means. I hate to sit and not play, but I cannot say there’s anything unfair about it.”
A change in the PP alignment, in which Martin Rucinsky moved to the point for the first time in his career while Martin Straka shifted down low, helped produce a 3-for-5 night after the team entered 2-for-36 in the previous six games. But even after taking a 2-0 lead into the third, the Rangers found themselves even in the waning minutes.
That situation was then remedied by Poti, who followed Petr Prucha – his 10th goal in the last nine games – and Straka on the scoresheet while preceding Rucinsky, who sealed it with an empty-netter.
“It felt really important for us to get back on track with a win,” said Henrik Lundqvist, outstanding in his 30-save victory. “I think everybody is relieved and can enjoy the holidays.”
larry.brooks@nypost.com