Rangers getting it together on the road
Brad Richards of the New York Rangers skates against the New Jersey Devils. Credit: Getty Images
EDMONTON -- With their Western Canada trek halfway over, the Rangers have steadied the ship and are hoping for a finishing kick before finally returning to New York for the long-awaited home opener Thursday.
"I haven't been there much, to be honest, so I can't wait to play in the Garden in front of that crowd," said center Brad Richards, who signed as a free agent in July.
The Rangers (2-1-2) are embracing the positives and have an eye on extending a two-game road winning streak against the Oilers on Saturday night. Their second victory, 3-2 over Calgary on Thursday night, came on Ryan McDonagh's goal with 1.8 seconds remaining in overtime.
Henrik Lundqvist has a 1.73 goals-against average, the fourth-best in the league among goalies who have played five games. Lundqvist will surely start at Madison Square Garden next week, but coach John Tortorella needs to find a game for backup Martin Biron before then, with the logical opening at Winnipeg on Monday night.
The Oilers (2-2-2) lost Thursday for the fourth time in five games. Coach Tom Renney's troops are averaging 1.7 goals per game, last in the NHL. The Rangers are at 2.4 per game.
Marian Gaborik looks like the sniper of two years ago -- skating hard, jumping into holes, snapping shots on net (eight in the win over Calgary) and scoring four goals.
McDonagh, filling in on the top defensive pair for the injured Marc Staal, has fought through some lapses and is 2-2-4 with a plus-3 in five games while averaging more than 25 minutes on ice.
Richards, with five points in five games (assisting on all of Gaborik's goals) and winning 57 percent of his faceoffs, is helping off the ice as well. He's mentoring center-turned-winger Derek Stepan.
And the imminent returns of defenseman Michael Sauer (shoulder) and winger Wojtek Wolski (groin) likely will move spares Jeff Woywitka and Erik Christensen to the sideline.
On the minus side, penalties continue to slow the flow. The Rangers have the highest average per game in the league, 25 minutes, including 32 minutes in Calgary. To be fair, 17 of those came when Kris Newbury was nailed for reacting to Cory Sarich's first-period run at Richards and barred for an instigator, five for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct. In his postgame comments, coach John Tortorella called that response totally justifiable.
The second-line trio of Artem Anisimov, Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky has yet to return to its former cohesiveness. Dubinsky's bull rush down the right side preceding McDonagh's OT winner was his best play against the Flames. Through five games, the line has one goal, from Callahan, and five assists. Anisimov has only five shots on goal, Dubinsky seven.
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