Urho Vaakanainen of the New York Rangers skates against the...

Urho Vaakanainen of the New York Rangers skates against the New Jersey Devils at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 9, 2025. Credit: Jim McIsaac

GREENBURGH — In their painful overtime loss in Montreal Sunday, the Rangers certainly had their chances to win. They held four one-goal leads in the game, and in the third period, while protecting one of those leads, they hit the goalpost twice, coming that close to snagging what would have been a key insurance goal.

One of those shots that hit the post came off the unlikely stick of self-styled defensive defenseman Urho Vaakanainen, who had just stepped out of the penalty box when he found the puck coming to him and setting him up for a two-on-one break with Will Cuylle against Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes. Vaakanainen, who had one goal in 156 NHL games at the time, zinged a shot past Dobes that rang off the far post.

“I got lucky out of the box,’’ Vaakanainen said at the Rangers’ optional morning skate Tuesday before their home game against the Ottawa Senators. “The puck bumped right into me. I was kind of trying to look for ‘Cools,’ but the [defenseman] took the pass away. So, yeah, I decided to shoot.

“It didn't go in,’’ he said wryly. “It was close though.’’

Off the post counts as a shot attempt, but not a shot on goal. Entering Tuesday, Vaakanainen, 26, had only eight shots on goal in 16 games played as a Ranger after coming over from Anaheim in the Jacob Trouba trade. And he readily admitted he is a defense-first player.

“Yeah, yeah, for sure,’’ he said. “I mean, defense comes first and then everything else comes after. So. I try to jump into the play a little bit sometimes, try to join the rush, sometimes get the puck to the net from the blue line when I have a chance. But yeah, I mostly try to keep the offense simple and focus on the defense.’’

In trying to explain the Rangers’ recent turnaround, where they were 6-1-3 in their last 10 games, coach Peter Laviolette said the team is playing better defense overall. And among the contributing factors  are the additions of Vaakanainen and Will Borgen, who he said are “more built as defensive defensemen.’’

“They move the puck well, they skate well, they can make a good first pass, and they try to deliver pucks on the net,’’ Laviolette said.

Vaakanainen had two assists and a plus/minus rating of even with the Rangers, with eight penalty minutes and 16 blocked shots.  Playing mostly on the third defense pair with Braden Schneider, the Rangers have outscored opponents 6-5 and outshot them 64-60 while the two have been on the ice together, despite being out-attempted 154-139 and out-chanced 71-53.

But the 6-2, 205-pound native of Joensuu, Finland, has been more active lately in trying to shoot the puck and help provide some offense. In addition to the attempt that went off the post, he had two shots on goal in the Montreal game.

Some of that, he said, has to do with being more comfortable in his surroundings. But he also said he continues to feel better and better as he recovers from an upper-body injury that kept him out of the lineup for a while in Anaheim and when he first got to the Rangers.

“All the injuries kind of affect my shot a little bit [and] stickhandling, stuff like that,’’ he said. “It still kind of bothers me a little bit, but it’s getting better.’’

The way fellow defenseman K’Andre Miller sees it, getting some offense from a defense-first player like Vaakanainen is something the Rangers need.

“I don't think there's really any defensive defensemen in this game anymore,’’ Miller said. “I think everybody's able to bring offensive and defensive sides to the game. Obviously, your defensemen, you want them to bring a little bit more defense, in breaking up plays, and being able to be hard to play against and good in the ‘D’ zone and things like that. But I think . . . we're just doing a good job of creating and finding where we can jump in and creating offense and doing different things like that, [while] we're also doing a good job defending and being hard to play against, and not giving as many rushes up as in the beginning of the year.’’

Notes & quotes: Miller (25) and Jonathan Quick (39) both celebrated birthdays Tuesday . . . With Igor Shesterkin returning in goal after sitting out Sunday’s game, Laviolette kept the same lineup for the fifth straight game, meaning defenseman Zac Jones and forwards Jonny Brodzinski and Jimmy Vesey were the scratches.

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