Why Rangers ‘feel confidence now’ after 1st home win of season
John Giannone of MSG Networks had the perfect appraisal of the New York Rangers’ first home win in eight tries this season, a 6-3 victory over the struggling Nashville Predators at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.
It was “a night on home ice when the Rangers finally were able to raise their sticks and not their blood pressure — or their tempers,” Giannone deadpanned after the Blueshirts ended the longest season-opening home losing streak in their history.
The Rangers (8-7-2) did indeed get to raise their sticks and salute the sellout crowd of 18,006 after they ended their dreadful 0-6-1 start at the Garden by scoring six times, equaling their offensive output in the seven losses. It was a lot more pleasant than the chorus of boos they were serenaded with as they skated off the ice Saturday night after a 5-0 loss to the Islanders.
“We feel confidence now for sure, finally,” said forward Artemi Panarin, who scored twice for his first multiple-goal game of the season. “It’s like a bunch of pressure goes off our shoulders. It’s nice to see our fans happy. It’s nice to not hear the boos, finally. It’s a good feeling.”
The key now is to string some wins together. They take an NHL-best 7-1-1 road record into games at Tampa Bay on Wednesday and Columbus on Saturday before the Detroit Red Wings come to MSG on Sunday.
“We’ve got to do it again the next time,” said defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, whose goal at 18:07 of the first period put the Rangers ahead to stay. “We’ve just got to keep building and play our game, and I think it’s going to be all right.”
The Rangers looked like a completely different team that the one that was shut out five times in its first seven home games. The return of center Vincent Trocheck after missing 14 games with an upper-body injury and the callup of top prospect Gabe Perreault from AHL Hartford gave the Rangers a deeper, more balanced lineup.
Trocheck’s return was a major boost. He had two assists and was plus-2. The trio of Trocheck, Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere (one goal, two assists) was dominant at 5-on-5; they finished the night with three goals and seven points and were a combined plus-7. The Rangers had 66.71 percent of the expected goal share with them on the ice at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.
“‘Troch’ is such an important player for this team,” coach Mike Sullivan said postgame. “Just his presence alone from a leadership standpoint, his demeanor and then obviously his talent, what he does on the ice. You guys see that, but his presence alone was a huge boost for the group, especially given the circumstance at home here.”
Rangers get ‘sigh of relief’ after first win of season at MSG
The 32-year-old center, like the rest of his teammates and the fans, was happy to get the first “W” at the Garden.
“I’ve been watching for the last few weeks, and I was telling the guys that from the outside, it looked like we were playing great but the puck’s just not going in the net,” Trocheck said. “These guys care a lot, and we know the fans care and how passionate they are, so we want to win for them even more. Sometimes you squeeze the stick a little too tight when that’s the case. It’s definitely a sigh of relief to get the first one out of the way.”
Perreault, who led Hartford with five goals goals and 10 points before being recalled, got his first NHL point with the primary assist on Lafreniere’s power-play goal at 1:23 of the second period. He looked a lot more confident than the 20-year-old who played five games with the Rangers in April after coming to the NHL following two excellent seasons at Boston College.
“He makes a real nice play on the power-play goal. … That’s not an easy play, and he has the capability of making those types of subtle plays that can help us,” Sullivan said. “For Gabe’s first game in the NHL in a while, I thought he did a pretty good job.”
It’s likely that no one was happier about the victory than Sullivan, who finally got his first win behind the home team bench at the Garden. He’s optimistic there will be a lot more.
“I feel like this group for the most part has liked the game that we’re putting on the ice,” Sullivan explained. “We didn’t always get the results, but the message has been let’s continue to understand what that game looks like when we’re at our best.
“We generate offense, we just haven’t scored as many goals. Tonight we score goals. Hopefully that reinforces the process a little bit and just gives us that much more belief that if we play a certain way we can compete with any team in this league.”
