The Rangers enter Saturday night’s game in Montreal with a seven-game winning streak. Even after skating-intensive workouts, there were smiles in every corner of the Rangers’ practice facility this week.
“This has been a lot of fun because of the pride we put into each practice and each game as a team,” said defenseman Ryan McDonagh, an early-season standout. “We feel good about what we’ve accomplished because it hasn’t been our stars every night. Look around the room, and you’ll see everyone has contributed.”
Here are four keys to the Rangers’ winning streak.
Scoring Support
The Rangers’ highest-skilled and most compensated forwards — Marian Gaborik (4 goals, 3 assists) and Brad Richards (3 goals, 2 assists) — have been major factors in the run, but each was held off the scoresheet in three of the seven wins. The rest of team’s top six offensive forwards have stepped up: Ryan Callahan (5 goals, 3 assists), Derek Stepan (3 goals, 5 assists), Artem Anisimov (1 goal, 6 assists) and Brandon Dubinsky (1 goal, 5 assists).
“Confidence spreads through the team when so many guys are getting big goals,” Gaborik said. “We’ve had a different hero just about every night.”
The Rangers have out-scored their opponents, 27-11, over the seven wins.
“We’re making big plays at big times,” center Brian Boyle said.
In their most recent victory, a 4-2 win over the Islanders on Tuesday, Richards broke a 2-2 tie by converting a pass from Dubinsky with just under five minutes left in the third period. The Rangers’ nine game-winning goals this season have been scored by seven different players. Callahan and Richards lead the team with two each.
Standup Defense
The Rangers are without Marc Staal, their No. 1 defenseman, who remains sidelined with concussion symptoms. But two pairings of youngsters have embraced the responsibility of shutting down top lines. McDonagh, Dan Girardi, Michael Sauer and Michael Del Zotto are a combined plus-20 during the winning streak. Girardi has averaged 27 minutes 46 seconds of ice time, tops in the N.H.L. McDonagh, who averages just over 25 minutes a game, is 12th.
“With Marc out, we took it upon ourselves to do the job while he takes the times he needs,” McDonagh said.
McDonagh, 22, credits his playing time in the Rangers’ first-round playoff loss to Washington last April as the “wake-up call” for this season.
“In the good moments and bad ones, I learned a lot about a defenseman needs to do at this level,” he said.
McDonagh benefits by being paired with Girardi – at 27, the oldest and most accomplished of the group. The 21-year-old Del Zotto, a precocious puck carrier, is thriving alongside Sauer, a 6-foot-4 stay-at-home type. Coach John Tortorella said his team’s defense is the biggest factor in the Rangers’ knack for scoring clutch goals in close games.
“It’s our play away from the puck,” Tortorella continually stressed to reporters over the last week.
How each member of the blue-line quartet has improved over last season as measured by plus/minus per game:
Goaltending by Two
Henrik Lundqvist has a save percentage of .933, allowing just nine goals over his five wins in the streak. But his goaltending statistics are not even the best on his team. Martin Biron, his high-quality backup, shut out Winnipeg and gave up only two goals to San Jose in his pair of wins.
“Everyone knows Hank is one of the best goalies in the world,” Callahan said of Lundqvist, “but we have the luxury of two great goalies behind us. I don’t know how many teams can say they have the confidence in both our goalies like we do in Hank and Marty. We’ve made our share of mistakes in these games, and we really struggled early in the season. They’ve been our two of our most important players.”
There is an added benefit to Biron’s superb play. Lundqvist has played at least 68 games in each of the last five regular seasons. When the Rangers made the playoffs three of those years, he has not been fresh for the postseason. Tortorella’s trust in Biron should result in Lundqvist starting a more manageable 60 games.
Strong Work Habits
Despite the seven-game streak, the Rangers say it has been easy to stay humble.
“We want to get better each day,” Tortorella said of his team’s approach to practices.
Boyle said: “The good thing is, we’ve been far from perfect. So there’s been plenty for us to work on.”
After their victory Tuesday over the Islanders, the Rangers took one day to rest and then had two practices. Skills were sharpened in drills. Special teams play was adjusted. Line combinations, as always, were tinkered.
“Don’t get comfortable,” Tortorella said before his team left for Montreal. “We want our team to play the right way, and detail work is a part of it. To have a chance against Montreal, we’ll have to be better than we were against the Islanders.”
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