CHICAGO — You know, maybe it’s not all lip service after all.
For months now, the Rangers have been preaching about their togetherness, about their team jelling, about the good feel in the locker room. It sounded nice, but how much did it really mean when they were treading water on the edge of the playoff picture with another trade-deadline sell-off quickly approaching?
But all of those platitudes are continuing to ring true, as the noise of Monday’s deadline is only a soft hum under the boisterous celebrations. The fact that legend Henrik Lundqvist is the third goalie in a two-goalie rotation is a lot easier to ignore amid the continued excellence of emergent No. 1 Igor Shesterkin, and the steadiness of Alex Georgiev.
So as Shesterkin returned from a three-game absence due to a mild ankle injury, the Rangers used a wild third period to pull off a 6-3 victory over the Blackhawks on Wednesday night. It was the fifth win in six games for the Rangers (31-24-4), and their 12th win in the past 16 since this three-goalie situation began with Shesterkin’s call-up on Jan. 6. The 24-year-old Russian has now won seven of his first eight NHL starts, including both of his starts on the road.
“It’s a really good feeling in that locker room,” coach David Quinn reiterated, with the players’ moms here to celebrate as the club continues this two-game trip against the Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C., on Friday night. “We’ve really become a team over the last two months. Listen, you have to win games when you’re not playing great.”
No, this was never pretty, even as the teams combined for seven goals in the first 13:37 of the third period. But the Rangers had five of them, and the Blackhawks (26-26-8) were never able to keep up.
“It’s always fun to win,” said Chris Kreider, whose value to the Rangers and on the trade market continues to rise, as he collected a goal and two assists and was a force all night. “You want to do it playing the right way, so the process has got to be a little bit better.”
That sounds like a player who is either unaware or unconcerned about an immediate future that is very uncertain. It’s unlikely this little run is going to change general manager Jeff Gorton’s mind going into the deadline, but it has sure made it a lot more pleasant around the team — in direct contrast to the previous two Februarys, when the impending sell-offs brought with them a cloud of gloom.
“This feels different than last year, for sure,” Quinn said. “Our guys are excited for Friday night, because it’s going to have a playoff-type game for us in a lot of ways.”
Right, the Rangers are six points behind Carolina for the second wild-card spot, with two teams between them. It’s difficult to make up ground in a league of three-point games, but playing meaningful hockey is still an important developmental tool for the youngest roster in the league.
And they looked it during the opening 40 minutes, when Filip Chytil’s goal 1:58 in had been equalized by the first of two on the night from Dominik Kubalik.
“I think we were lucky it was 1-1 going into the third,” Kreider said. “Igor kept us in it.”
Shesterkin was solid throughout, finishing with 37 saves, while surely upset with the two he allowed in the chaotic third period. After Pavel Buchnevich and Ryan Strome scored less than two minutes apart to make it 3-1, Kubalik got his second at 6:05 to make it 3-2. But then tallies from Kreider and Panarin came 53 seconds apart to make it 5-2, before Drake Caggiula and Mika Zibanejad alternated to finish the scoring.
The red-hot line of Kreider-Zibanejad-Buchnevich combined for eight points, which makes it a lot easier to look beyond the fact that both flanks are hot commodities on the trade market. Keep winning and this playoff talk won’t sound like lip service, either.
“It’s certainly helps,” Quinn said. “Our guys have done a really good job of tuning [the distractions] out.”