In this situation, when it seems all the focus of the Rangers’ season is being projected into the playoffs, of course it was Brad Richards that beat the Blueshirts.
The man who bore the moniker of de facto captain throughout the team’s run to the Stanley Cup final last season — and then subsequently had the remainder of his nine-year, $60 million contract bought out over the summer — got the lone goal on Wednesday night at the Garden, propelling his Blackhawks to a 1-0 victory and snapping the Rangers five-game winning streak.
“Everyone knows how much I love playing here,” a smiling Richards said after his first game back as a member of the opposition, during which he received a mixed ovation from the home fans while the scoreboard played a first-period video tribute. “It was pretty cool to score against them and win the game.”
This was a contest that was tight, but was far from a reenactment of the game these two teams played back on March 8 in Chicago, a 1-0 overtime game won by the Rangers’ Derick Brassard. That game was action-packed, while this was one only a defensive savant could have wished for.
“The game in Chicago was more end-to-end,” coach Alain Vigneault said, “and there were more quality opportunities.”
One of the best scoring opportunities for the Rangers (44-18-7) came only moments before Richards goal, when Dan Boyle rung a shot off the Chicago (43-21-6) crossbar. Going the other way, the Rangers failed to pick up Richards as he got the puck at the right post — and left there alone, he lifted the puck over Cam Talbot’s shoulder, then turned to the crowd with a grin that almost split his face in two, and stayed with him all the way to bench.
“There’s nothing like playing in this building, the energy it gives you,” Richards said. “It’s exciting, but it’s a little sad, too, that it had to end.”
The Rangers don’t need to be sad that they handed 26-year-old rookie goalie Scott Darling his first career shutout in his 10th NHL start, but they might want to start being concerned by their lack of goal scoring.
Though the Rangers kept their five-point lead over the idle Islanders in the Metropolitan Division, and still hold three games in hand over their suburban rivals, they have scored more than two goals just once in the past seven games. Their power play went 0-for-2, and is 0-for-16 over the past six games.
At some point in the near future, the Rangers will get starting goalie Henrik Lundqvist back from injury, having been cleared to fully participate in practice after a six-week absence due to a sprained blood vessel. The team has gone 15-3-3 in the 21 games he has missed, with Talbot accounting for a record of 13-3-3 and propelling the Blueshits to near the top of the league.
“I felt like I was seeing the puck well an controlling the puck pretty well,” said Talbot, who finished with 30 saves and could play both of the team’s upcoming back-to-back, Saturday against the Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C., then Sunday at home against the Ducks. “It’s tough when a guy like Richie gets that much time in the slot. You almost have to try and wait him out, but it was a tough situation and he made a nice play.”
Those nice plays were scarce for Richards last season, and haven’t come by the bundle in his first year with the Blackhawks, putting up 11 goals and 35 points in 67 games with his new squad. Yet the 34-year-old veteran still found a way to bury his old mates.
“It’s a bonus to get one in this building against them,” he said, “but not in a bad way.”
Only bad for the Rangers.