So, let’s be clear about the process here. The New York Rangers’ front office brass decide to notify fans and stakeholders that the window has slammed shut on this current edition of the club when it comes to playoffs.
Got it.
Glen Sather and Jeff Gorton make the necessary moves to begin the long-needed rebuild from the tires up on the roster.
Got it.Younger talent is brought and even younger talent will be secured in the upcoming draft.
Got it.
Will someone let the on ice product know they are not supposed to be winning?
That’s where this all goes awry, maybe.
Friday night Henrik Lundqvist made 50 saves, again, to backstop the Rangers to a 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames to help the Rangers move to 2-0-1 since the rebuild started.
“It comes down to winning,” Lundqvist said. “You want to feel like you’re making a difference out there. That’s why I’m here. I want to try to help the team to win games. The first half of the season, I felt as good as I’ve felt in a few years. I want to come back to that and believe that we can win games and believe in myself. I think the last couple games we’re moving in the right direction.”
Though much-maligned in Boston, Ryan Spooner has been nothing but a force on the ice for New York. Friday night he collected an assist and scored his first goal as a Ranger.
“It’s been great,” Spooner said. “I just really want to help out and that’s what I’ve been trying to do. It’s been fun, for sure.”
Spooner has seven points in three games with the Rangers. Got it.
Kevin Hayes continued his hot streak with a goal and Pavel Buchnevich added a brute force goal early in the second period.
“It’s been a few weeks where it’s been tough,” Lundqvist said. “No fun at all. When we go out there and play with a lot of energy and get good starts and compete, you enjoy it more.”
The Rangers remain a long shot for the post season; they have teams ahead of them and five-point gap to make up.
The Rangers improved to 29-30-6.
“The last couple games here we’ve had good starts, confidence. We definitely gave up some chances,” Lundqvist said. “We’re going. We feel pretty good about the speed we’re having. We know we’re going to make mistakes but we’re learning as a team, a young team. It’s a new mindset.”
The other issue is that Lundqvist has faced more than 50 shots in consecutive games.
Brett Kulak was the only Flames goal scorer and Lundqvist needed to be acrobatic at times to ensure that.
“It’s tough,” the Flames’ Mikael Backlund said. “Other teams are winning and we’re not. It’s obviously a tough position to put ourselves in.”
The Flames dropped to 32-25-9 with the loss.
“It’s a matter of scoring right now. We haven’t put the puck in the net in the past three games. When we get those chances, we’ve got to get some traffic and bear down. Put pucks in the net. We’re all getting some pretty quality looks. It’s not going in,” the Flames’ Mark Giordano said after the game.
[WATCH: All Rangers vs. Flames highlights]
Jon Gillies made 24 saves in the loss.
“We’ve got to dig deeper,” Backlund said. “There’s still 16 games left. We’ve got to take care of our business. Move on after this and see where it takes us.”
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