Lightning gives Rangers help they need

It was one of the longest, strangest days in recent Rangers memory, but somehow their season isn't over yet.

The Rangers are going to the playoffs. They took care of business Saturday afternoon at home against the Devils, 5-2; then John Tortorella's old team, the Lightning, took care of the rest of the Rangers' business by beating the Hurricanes, 6-2, Saturday night in Raleigh.

So now the Rangers, who seemed resigned to being eliminated from playoff contention on the last day of the season for a second straight year despite an 11-4-1 finishing run, instead will get ready for the Caps in the first round of the playoffs for the second time in three years.

It's not shocking that the Rangers made it. They've played hard enough for long enough this season to have earned their berth, having forged a real identity under Tortorella -- the sort of identity that teams need to succeed in the postseason, when everyone has to block shots and hit and sacrifice himself for a win.

But the Rangers still are young, still not practiced in the art of starting strong and finishing even stronger. As the Hurricanes, Sabres and Canadiens kept on winning, the Rangers stumbled twice. Suddenly, what seemed certain two weeks ago seemed almost impossible Saturday afternoon.

"Maybe you look back at the Isles last week, at Atlanta, and you think about what you could have done," Brandon Dubinsky said in the hours between the Rangers' win and the start of the Lightning-Hurricanes game. "But we did what we had to do."

The Rangers have delighted Tortorella with their growth, and it was on display yesterday. Ryan McDonagh, the rookie midseason call-up, scored his first NHL goal, and it was the game-winner. Rookie defenseman Michael Sauer finished the season with a team-high plus-20 rating.

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At the other end of the spectrum, Chris Drury and Vinny Prospal contributed goals. Because of injuries, neither was counted on much of the season, but they are necessary leaders and Stanley Cup winners for a team that has a lot of playoff neophytes.

Even with Marian Gaborik still relatively invisible, the Rangers can be a force in the playoffs in the manner of the Flyers a season ago and the Hurricanes two seasons ago.

Saturday, after defeating the Devils, the Rangers tried to stay positive but seemed resigned to their fate.

"Reality stinks," Prospal said before joking about sending some messages to his old Lightning teammates before their game in Raleigh.

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Tortorella, beloved by former players such as Martin St. Louis, was asked what he could offer to his old club. "Not cash, but . . . ," the coach said, trailing off with a smile.

They were the jokes and gibes of a team that wished things were different -- not just on the Island a week ago and against Atlanta 48 hours earlier, but also with the tiebreaker format change unanimously approved by the league's general managers last spring that discounted shootout wins.

"A team with 44 wins vs. a team with 41 wins, and we're [out of contention] while they go to the playoffs," Tortorella said before biting his tongue.

He was wrong. His team finished with 44. The Hurricanes, playing the lead dog for the first time all year, could not handle the pressure.

Tortorella told me two months ago that his goal, the Rangers' goal, wasn't just to make the playoffs but to make some noise when they got there. "You don't want to just squeak in to get your ---- beat and go out in a round," he said. "You want to have a team that can make a long run."

After a long, crazy day and night, the Rangers have their chance to do just that.