Rangers 2 Panthers 1
SUNRISE, Fla. – They have 10 games to go, and after last night’s bounce-back 2-1 victory here over the Panthers, the Rangers will probably need to run out the string in order to avoid a second straight playoff miss.
But that’s not the way the players themselves are looking at the situation. The players are approaching the final three weeks of the season with tunnel vision, focusing not on winning their next 10, but on winning one game, 10 times.
“There are all sorts of combinations you can figure out with us and Boston, but the best thing we can do is win all our games, and even that’s looking too far ahead,” said Mike Richter, routinely heroic again with a 35-save effort. “We can’t look past Saturday [in Philadelphia]; that’s the most important game for us, and really the only game on our minds.
“What we have to do is somehow find a way to win. If we do that, [it] accomplishes three things. First and foremost, of course, it gets us points. Secondly, it puts pressure on the teams we’re fighting against to win their games. Third, it gives us a sense of hope that we can stay within striking distance.”
As the Rangers were winning here last night against a dispirited Panther team playing its 17th game in 28 without the injured Pavel Bure since the Jan. 20 trade with Vancouver, the Bruins were winning in Ottawa to maintain their five-point cushion over the Blueshirts. Boston, which has 12 games remaining, will make up one of its two games in hand at home tonight against the Bleakhawks.
“Yes, it would have been nice for Boston to lose, but the only thing we can control is our own games,” Petr Nedved said after the win that ended 0-2-2 and 1-4-2 slides. “We can’t do more than that.” Nedved should know about controlling games, for that’s exactly what he did last night. The centerman had a quietly spectacular night, scoring the game-winner, dominating in the faceoff circle by winning 24 of 28 draws, and playing a fundamentally sound game in the defensive zone in his 26:16 of work. He was on the ice for eight of match’s final 14 shifts.
“Petr thrives on the work. He’s having fun. He’s enjoying himself,” said John Muckler.
Nedved, whose rippling right-circle wrist shot over Sean Burke’s short-side catching glove at 9:13 of the second period gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead, has now scored 20 goals in 53 games since returning to the NHL on Thanksgiving Eve after a year’s absence. He’s registered 14 points (8-6) in the last 13 games.
“For sure, I am having fun, playing a lot,” said No. 93. “Having fun is the key for me.”
The key for the Rangers was not allowing Monday’s horrific 6-3 loss in Tampa carry over across the state. They didn’t. Carried to a degree by Richter, who propped up his team as it was outshot 18-3 in the 21 minutes after Adam Graves’ 35th gave the Blueshirts a 1-0 lead at 6:37 of the first, the Rangers maintained a commendable work ethic.
“It’s professionalism and pride,” said Richter, having his best season since 1993-94.
John Muckler moved Wayne Gretzky between Niklas Sundstrom and Mike Knuble, giving 99 a total of 13:43 of ice. Gretzky kept his shifts short, and his game safe.
“Being out for four weeks and back for two games, I was just trying to simplify things,” said Gretzky, who seemed more comfortable than he had been on Monday. “I just wanted to get the puck in, and not take any chances.”
Without Ulf Samuelsson, Muckler has paired Peter Popovic with Brian Leetch, who played 32:35. And though the Rangers did spend much too much time in their own end of the ice, they tightened up well in the third period, especially after Dan Boyle scored off a two-on-one at 11:22 when Leetch was beaten on the wall by Mark Parrish.
And so now the Rangers head to Philadelphia, needing to win, as they will need to win every game.
“You can drive yourself nuts thinking about all the things that could have been,” said Richter. “All we can do is take it game by game, period by period.
“As long as we win, we still give ourselves the opportunity to overtake somebody.”
