COLUMBUS, Ohio — What should be very good news for the Rangers can be interpreted as very bad news.
Due to the idiocy of the NHL playoff format that rewards decent teams in weak divisions at the expense of strong teams in powerhouse divisions, the 3-2 victory Monday over the Blue Jackets that pushed the Rangers into a virtual three-way tie for second with Columbus and Pittsburgh in the Metropolitan Division may be nothing to celebrate.
Moving on up? Be careful what you wish for, because a top-three spot in the division — and probably at the expense of the fading Jackets, 8-10-1 since the end of their 16-game winning streak in early January — would land the Rangers in the Caps-Penguins playoff vortex while a fourth-place finish would mean a crossover into the Montreal-Ottawa-Pick A Team Atlantic.
As such, victory — and in this case, a sixth straight victory — is hardly its own reward.
But the Rangers cannot be concerned with that now. No one could possibly massage the results at this stage of the season, not even the Pittsburgh franchise that once memorably dumped its way to drafting Mario Lemieux first overall. So when the puck is dropped, the Rangers simply play the game.
This was a tight one, with both teams playing a conservative brand that led to a 1-1 deadlock through two periods in which the Blueshirts cobbled together just 14 shots on Sergei Bobrovsky that included perhaps three scoring chances. They were nearly as stingy playing without the puck playing in front of Antti Raanta, making his first start since Jan. 14.
“I think we’ve been playing really simple hockey,” said Raanta, who recorded his first victory in his second start of 2017 after surviving a frantic goalmouth scramble in the final half-minute. “We’ve been making the simple plays.”
Tied as it was into the third after Dan Girardi’s soft one while shorthanded early in the second period negated Brandon Dubinsky’s power-play goal midway through the first, the Blueshirts gained a 2-1 lead when Kevin Hayes beat Bobrovsky in alone from the neutral zone at 4:49 after stealing the puck from David Savard’s skates following an unwise pass from partner Jack Johnson.
“In a game like this when there aren’t many chances, when you get a Grade A like that, you have to take advantage,” said Hayes, who has picked up where he left off with linemates Michael Grabner and J.T. Miller, recording six points (2-4) in four games since rejoining the lineup after having been sidelined for four with a knee injury. “I’m feeling good now. But I’ve got to say that with Grabs and J.T. playing at the level they’ve been, even if I have a bad game, a lot of people probably won’t notice it.
“With the way they’re going, it can look like I’m playing well even if I’m not.”
Ah, lines and linemates. Coach Alain Vigneault juggled his combinations to start the match, essentially dropping Jimmy Vesey out of the top six to the fourth line while replacing him with Pavel Buchnevich. But the switch didn’t take. By the third, Vigneault had reunited the units that had been intact since Hayes’ return last Tuesday, which meant Vesey was back with Derek Stepan and Rick Nash. Which in turn means he was on the right side in the neutral zone to accept Stepan’s feed with the game tied 2-2 with just 6 ¹/₂ minutes to go after the Jackets had tied it at 11:33 when Nick Foligno’s centering feed banked in off Miller’s skates.
Vesey motored down the right side, drove to the net, made a curlycue move that flummoxed Bobrovsky, and broke the tie at 13:28 for his first goal in six games, second in 17 and third in the last 26 matches.
“I think I’ve been playing well since the All-Star break, but everybody likes to score and get points,” said the freshman from Harvard. “Playing on different lines, the fourth line, I think that’s definitely part of [being in the NHL].
“I’m in my first year on a veteran team, we have a lot of guys with a lot of games. I’m just in the process of being a pro. My mindset is to keep bringing energy and keep skating.”
And the Rangers keep winning, now 10-2 in the last 12, 37-18-1 overall, and as such are tied for second with 75 points having played one more game than Columbus and two more than Pittsburgh.
Isn’t that just great news?