BOSTON — First it was a clinic in discipline and determination, and then it became a showcase for shot-blocking, and when it was over, when it ended 1-0 over the Big Bad Bruins yesterday afternoon, the Black-and-Blueshirts were back in business.
“I’m happy we got a point the other night [in Thursday’s 2-1 Garden shootout loss to the Senators], but the effort was not our best,” Henrik Lundqvist said after his league-leading and career-best 11th shutout. “This puts us back to where we should be.”
The Rangers’ sixth victory in their last seven games (6-0-1) and eighth in their last 10 (8-1-1) moved the club into a tie with Montreal for sixth place in the Eastern Conference, thanks to the Canadiens’ 2-0 loss to the Capitals last night. The Rangers and Canadiens both have six games remaining.
But even as important mathematically as the victory was in also pushing the Rangers seven points ahead of the ninth-place Hurricanes — who fell 4-2 last night to the Lightning with a game in hand — it was equally important spiritually. For this was a revival meeting for the Blueshirts, one in which they got back to their roots by taking and giving up the body, supporting the puck and one another, and maintaining their discipline at every turn, going shorthanded just one time.
It was textbook hockey for the spring, the type of hockey the Rangers not only must play to be successful, but also embrace.
“We weren’t satisfied by any means with our effort against Ottawa, so we came into this one knowing we had to get back to getting pucks in, forechecking and being physical,” said Brian Boyle, who was outstanding.
“They’re a big, physical team so we knew we would have to push back, and we did.”
There was Michael Sauer taking out Zdeno Chara hard behind the Rangers’ net at 7:30 of the second, and there was Brandon Dubinsky winning a one-on-one against the imposing Milan Lucic behind the Boston net a minute later, and there was Dan Girardi hammering Lucic with four minutes to go in the period.
There was Dubinsky ignoring Lucic when he tried to draw the Ranger into a matching penalty after a slash with 3:31 to go in the second, and there was Sean Avery, reinstated after four games in street clothes, fighting Gregory Campbell 23 seconds into his first shift, and sliding to block a Johnny Boychuk slap shot from the right point with 4:25 to go, and there was Ryan McDonagh stranding tall against every crease-crashing Bruin.
“This is exactly the way we wanted to play,” said Derek Stepan, who scored the game’s only goal — the 20th of his rookie season — at 6:39 of the first on deflection of Sauer’s right-point drive after winning an offensive-zone draw with help from Vinny Prospal. “It’s the way we have to play to win hockey games from now on.”
The Rangers dominated territorially for 40 minutes before blocking an astonishing 18 shots in the third period (for a total of 29) in withstanding a siege in which they were outshot 12-1 overall and went the final 17:27 without a shot of their own.
“Everyone put everything they had on the line,” said Boyle, who led with five blocks. “Even with the way they controlled the third, there was no panic.”
There was no panic because there was Lundqvist in nets for the 20th straight game, reducing his career goals-against average in Boston to 1.24 in 10 starts. It was the fourth 1-0 match at TD Garden he has been a part of, but the first he has won.
“I knew and we knew they would be coming, but we battled so hard,” said Lundqvist, tested often in close. “The guys battled so hard all game.
“I feel great about that.”