BLUE RIGHT BY ’EM!
Rangers in rout over rival Devs
ALAIN VIGNEAULT badly wanted this one. He knew his Rangers let at least one point slip away Friday in Washington, and his explanation for starting Henrik Lundqvist for the second straight night Saturday against the Devils began with this: “Big game.”
The Rangers played like it, coming out quicker and sharper than they were against the Capitals, building on an early advantage and seeing it through in a 5-2 victory over the Devils, two goals courtesy of Mats Zuccarello. The Rangers (16-11-2) have won 10 of their last 11 home games, marking the first time they’ve won 10 out of 11 at home within the same season since the autumn of 1982.
“Every game right now is a big game,” Zuccarello said. “It’s a tight race. The race has started, even though we’re in December. It’s a tough division and you need every point you can get.”
Despite winning 13 of their last 17 games, the Rangers are still just in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division, one point out of a wild-card spot and five points behind first-place Columbus.
Zuccarello’s first was the product of terrific individual effort. Less than three minutes after Damon Severson’s laser brought the Devils (16-9-4) within one, Zuccarello stripped Severson in the Devils’ zone just inside the blue line as a New Jersey power play concluded, skated into the slot and beat Keith Kinkaid stick-side to put the Rangers up 3-1.
Jimmy Vesey and Jesper Fast, who swapped spots with Vesey dropping to the fourth line, scored the first two goals. Fast, whose single-season career-high is 10 goals, has scored in six of his last eight games.
Lundqvist made good on Vigneault’s decision to play him again with 26 saves a night after the Rangers allowed two goals in the final 3:32 against Washington. Considering his numbers in the second game of back-to-backs when he plays both, it’s no wonder Vigneault turned to him with more Metro points on the line.
This was the 80th time Lundqvist has played both ends of a back-toback, and he’s now 52-21-7 with a 2.02 goals against average and .930 save percentage in those second games. In his last seven such games, Lundqvist is 7-0 with a 1.70 GAA and .948 save percentage.
“I mentioned to Glen (Sather) quite a few times, the game has changed a lot over the years,” Vigneault said before the win. “Back when he was coaching in the league, they made the playoffs back then in October, early November. Now it’s a battle. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the league as competitive as it is this year. So it’s gonna be a lot of fun.”
Games are going to come fast and furious for the Rangers after a well-spaced early schedule, next week playing four in six nights. Lundqvist has started 25 of 29 games. Can he play every night?
“Well, if you ask me, yes, but I’m not the guy making the decisions,” Lundqvist said smiling. “We take it game by game. We look at it the day before and see how things are at. That’s really what we’ve been doing so far. We’ll see how many games I’ll play. I feel really good. I had a couple days off during the week so I feel good, I feel fresh. I feel ready to go.”
MIKA IMPROVING
Mika Zibanejad (concussion) missed his fifth straight game but is making progress, having skated three of the last four days. Vigneault said Saturday was “a very positive day” for Zibanejad, who will need at least one practice before returning and therefore will remain out again Monday.