ATLANTA – The final 1:11 of the Rangers’ first playoff victory in 10 years only seemed to take a decade. For on a power play and with their goaltender pulled, there were Thrashers to the left, Thrashers to the right, and Thrashers in front of Henrik Lundqvist, all looking to pull the trigger on the shot that would tie the match and send Game 1 to overtime.
But it was not to be. Lundqvist couldn’t be sure whether he’d gotten a piece of Keith Tkachuk’s jam from the left porch with 25 seconds to go. But he did know Ilya Kovalchuk’s blast from 40 feet sailed just wide and Slava Kozlov’s put-back hit the side of the net as time expired on both Atlanta and on a Rangers’ seven-game postseason losing streak that had commenced with Game 3 of their 1997 five-game conference finals loss to the Flyers.
“I don’t have anything to do with 10 years ago,” Jaromir Jagr said after the Blueshirts’ 4-3 victory helped wash away the taste of last year’s sweep by the Devils. “I didn’t think about that. It’s not like I have to change the past.”
If Jagr didn’t have to change the past, the captain recognized he had the responsibility to plot the course for the present against a team playing in its first playoff series ever. It wasn’t merely by happenstance that No. 68 got the Blueshirts on the board first by snapping a wicked right-wing one-timer past a jittery Kari Lehtonen at 12:50 of the opening period.
“Everybody knows the start is important. If you have experience, you have to take advantage of that,” said Jagr, whose goal was the 68th of his playoff career, tying him with Gordie Howe for 16th all-time. “I know the younger guys have to be shaky.
“The first game is about nerves. I wanted to take advantage.”
The Rangers were clearly the superior team in building a 2-1 edge after one and a 4-2 lead after two. The Jagr-Michael Nylander-Marcel Hossa line controlled the puck down low, with Hossa matched much of the night against brother, Marian, scoring midway through the second. The Matt Cullen-Petr Prucha-Ryan Callahan unit created rush chances off its speed. Even if the Martin Straka-Sean Avery-Brendan Shanahan line was never in synch, the Rangers seemed in control after 40 minutes.
Not quite. Because in pounding the Rangers at every opportunity and finishing essentially every check Bobby Holik played a monster third period and the Thrashers created all sorts of defensive-zone issues for the Blueshirts. Dan Girardi suffered through a difficult introduction to the playoffs. Thomas Pock struggled. Paul Mara was not at his best. Indeed, Fedor Tyutin was the Rangers’ best, even if he wasn’t on the ice over the final 2:45.
Still, the Rangers persevered after the Thrashers came within 4-3 with 5:50 to go. They kept it simple for the most part, chipping the puck out, keeping Atlanta to the outside, allowing Lundqvist to track the puck and gain his first NHL playoff victory after going 0-3 last year.
“There might be some guys in here who were thinking about last year, but I wasn’t,” said the King, who will be back at it for Game 2 here tomorrow afternoon. “Still, getting my first playoff win is definitely good for my confidence.
“It will be a good feeling at practice [today].”