 |
| Bruce Bennett/Getty Images |
The New York Rangers comeback win against the Boston
Bruins is one of those that people will look at as season defining partially
because of the time of year it happened and what was on the line at this point
in the year. Hopefully what will not get
lost in the shuffle is how last night’s game was a product of the identity and
system this team has been built on all season.
One thing you can rarely say with this Rangers team is that they lack
effort, heart or fight. They have their
nights where it goes horribly wrong, but those are few and far between. What you see with a much greater frequency is
a team that no matter the situation battles and scraps their way until the
final buzzer and more often than not that hard work and sacrificing mentality
is rewarded with a result that leaves the players with the sense of
accomplishment and satisfaction and the fans with a sense of pride for cheering
for this particular group.
Last night against the Bruins was just one of those
events. Early in the game there was
frustration and even despair for some at the way the team looked to be
outclassed by Boston for the first period.
Having watched this team all year no fan should have given up them at
that point because whether they completed the comeback or not you had to expect
the effort to get there would be forthcoming and it was. The resiliency and fight of this team is
something that should never be discounted and once Vinny Prospal broke the seal
on the scoring for the night you just had this sense they were going to find a
way as they have many times before this season.
“We’ve been this way all year long,” Tortorella said
about the resiliency the team showed in coming back from a three-goal deficit.
“We haven’t played a lot of bad games. This team has balls. It has had balls
all year long.”
This team is certainly one that is certainly greater
than the sum of its parts and uses those intangibles to get through the rough
moments. There is no denying they have a
world class goaltender in Henrik Lundqvist who should be considered, but likely
won’t win the Vezina and they have an All-Star defender in Marc Staal. Outside of those two, with Gaborik having an
off year, the talent level on this team is not nearly as high as just about any
other team currently in playoff position.
They have to be a team that grinds you, that plays their system in order
to have a chance each night, but it is their heart and determination that
carries them more than anything else.
You watch this team that is built on an identity which
at its core is based on the idea of sacrificing for the rest of the guys in the
room. You see in how they forecheck and
cycle the puck on offense with the willingness to take the punishment and you
see it even more on defense where they constantly hurl themselves in front of
shot after shot with no thought for their own health or safety. The evidence of that is the last 90 seconds
last night after the two huge goals to take the lead you have Brian Boyle and
Ryan Callahan diving in front of Zdeno Chara bombs to preserve the
comeback. It is that kind of work that
allows the comeback to possible at all.
“They are there every night doing that,” goaltender Henrik Lundqvist
said. “I think everyone is doing a great job paying the price. We are
going to need it. We are going to need guys to sacrifice their
bodies. That is the way we play…we play hard. When we do that we
have a much better shot to win.”
There
will be ups and downs in a game or in the season as these are still the New
York Rangers and they love to make it interesting, but this Rangers team is different
than ones from previous seasons as they give you reason to believe and be proud
nearly every night. With the effort that
they put in, the heart that they show and the resiliency they continue to
reward the fans with there should never be a point where someone quits on this
team.
