FARMERS BRANCH, Texas — There always has been a tenacity about Mats Zuccarello that has endeared him to Rangers fans since the start of his NHL career.
But his role on this team has developed into far more than just endless energy and skill packed into his diminutive frame. Instead, Zuccarello is relied on in the most crucial of situations — both offensively and defensively — which is why a recent precipitous drop in his game is so obvious and so damning for the Blueshirts.
“Hasn’t been good enough as of late, but I mean, we’re playing kind of a grinding style of hockey right now and winning games, so maybe you don’t produce as much, but you still go around and be happy because you win hockey games,” Zuccarello said after Friday’s practice outside Dallas as the team prepared to play the Stars at American Airlines Center on Saturday afternoon. “Obviously, I would like to play better than I have, but at the same time, when you’re winning, that’s all that matters.”
The Rangers have been down this path before earlier this season, when winning games masked much larger problems that eventually came to a head. So coach Alain Vigneault and general manager Jeff Gorton will not be fooled with the improbable 2-1 win over the Blues in St. Louis on Thursday, as their team played a second straight game of sloppy hockey only to be saved by goalie Henrik Lundqvist. There have been many gratifying moments for the Blueshirts in this current stretch of 8-2-1, but there have been enough gaffes and no-shows to give pause as well.
With the trade deadline looming Monday, Gorton is doing all he can to improve his Rangers’ chance at another run for the Stanley Cup, and that means being able to see his roster with clear eyes — and hoping key cogs on the team like Zuccarello can pick up their games.
“Mats [is] a guy that puts a lot of pressure on himself,” Vigneault said. “He knows he’s an important part of our team, not just offensively, but at both ends of the rink. He’s one of the guys that we count on to make plays and a lot of times to make plays out of nothing. So he puts a lot of pressure on himself, which is all right. In an 82-game schedule, you’re going to have your good games and your 50-50 games, if you want to call them that.”
It would be kind to call the game Zuccarello played against the Devils on Monday in Newark “50-50,” but his minus-2 rating was hardly the most egregious on his team in a brutal 5-2 loss. So coming into Thursday’s start of a two-game road trip, Vigneault put Zuccarello back in familiar territory, on the right side of a line centered by his good pal, Derick Brassard.
“Ever since I’ve been here, they’ve been together most of the time,” Vigneault said. “And they’ve been a really effective duo for us. My tendency is to keep them together.”
Vigneault stressed those two supremely talented players should simplify at the start of games to get into a rhythm, and that hopefully will create space for them to make plays later on. Zuccarello is once again leading the team in points, with 20 goals and 26 assists in 61 games, but has just four goals and 15 points in his past 23 games.
“Obviously you put pressure on yourself to [produce],” Zuccarello said. “Yeah, [I] have an important role on the team, and you have to accept it. I don’t think people expect me to score 100 points. I think they expect me to work hard and create chances, trying to make the team better. And if I score some goals, too, that’s something I expect.”
What the Rangers expect is another postseason run, and for that, they need Zuccarello at his best.
“We have some tough games coming up against some really good teams, all playoff teams almost,” Zuccarello said. “So I don’t really care about producing — obviously I’d like to help out with that — but winning hockey games. If you win 1-0, 2-1, I don’t care as long as we win.”