The Refusal

New York Rangers fans themselves present with such variance that I never really know who or what is happening when they show up, even when watching a game in suspected good company, until they’re finished with an unsolicited monologue during a 0-0 second period, or until the Rangers score or surrender a goal – this is the style of critically-intensive, or at least intense, brand of Rangers fan I most encounter, who explodes in rage or laughs in sorrow, similarly red-faced in either case.

The Blueshirts went up 3-0 against the Carolina Hurricanes, one of the teams they specifically battled for the Presidents’ Trophy and, with it, the rights to home ice throughout the playoffs, and then lost two straight to force an anxious Game 6 in Raleigh.

With the familiar so close, the agony, the defiance, the broken brunch matinee that the Rangers being in a game 7 means for playoff hockey ratings, with Gary Bettman presumably seething over his hatred of hockey’s organic growth; with all of it staring them in the face, only a miraculous effort would save New York. Well then.

Following a troubled Rangers defensive zone push, the Hurricanes’ Martin Necas flipped one top shelf over Igor Shesterkin in the first period off of an impeccable backhanded pass from Jordan Martinook. A second period Canes power play goal from Seth Jarvis, according to texts I’ve seen, nearly sent my father to bed. 

Only a minute later, though, Artemi Panarin corralled the puck and hit Vincent Trocheck perfectly with a Chris Kreider-esque deflection. It’ll all work out, but in the moment, I’m a little freaked out.

Not too long after that, Sebastian Aho recovered one off the boards and scored a slick solo goal, putting the Hurricanes up 3-1. Checking our phones, checking our texts, checking our signs, all of us wondering whom is responsible for this latest cosmic humor of the specifically-Rangers variety.

A liquid through-the-legs pass from Kreider to Ryan Lindgren did *not. quite. GET THERE*, as a truly perfect dive from Martinook bailed out an otherwise great effort from Frederik Andersen with a LeBron-worthy stick block, body stretched on the ice, at the last possible second. An immediately legendary defensive play, it felt like one that only happens to teams of destiny, fit for the right-after-the-clock-expires season recap DVDs, Blu-Rays and t-shirts[1].

And then came the third. I don’t know what happened between Peter Laviolette and the Rangers in the locker room, but we know Chris Kreider was involved because Vincent Trocheck quoted him as putting in for at least one goal. At least!

After emerging with a more timid energy than that which they began the series – you remember, in winning three straight – New York continued a somewhat standoffish approach, at least for the first period and a half. Playing with renewed life, and, perhaps, realizing their playoff reputations didn’t need to be sequestered to the second round, the Rangers decided not to lose this series.

While we’re here: what might get lost in Kreider’s third period is Shesterkin’s locking down of every Carolina attacking move. In play worthy of early consideration for some postseason hardware, Shesterkin made a couple of brilliant saves in a row, including one against former teammate Jordan Staal, to keep the score within two goals.

With thirteen and a half minutes left in the third, Mika Zibanejad slid a shot toward Andersen that Kreider slipped from skate through post. 3-2, Kreider’s first.

In what very well could have been this team’s Minnesota Vikings failing to adequately deal with Michael Vick and therefore being exposed moment, two Rangers collided with each other between the blue lines, allowing for an Aho breakaway which, to an inexplicable luck not familiar to Rangers teams of recent vintage, goes wide. Wide! We don’t talk enough about Pavel Bure these days because we don’t want to confront the penalty shot.

Finally, the much-lauded special teams kicks in: on a powerplay with eight minutes remaining in the third, Panarin ripped a shot from the top of the key that Kreider, most at home when screening the goalie, batted home his second to tie the game: 3-3, Kreider’s second.

With four and a half minutes remaining, Jack Roslovic, the rookie who has enjoyed several triumphs already in his first playoffs, strides behind the goal before passing it off to Lindgren, who hits a perfectly-situated, wide-open Kreider with a perfect hypotenuse of a pass behind Andersen. With under a minute remaining, Barclay Goodrow slung in an empty-netter after a tense few minutes of six-on-five. The Rangers are moving onto the Eastern Conference Finals.

A slight aside: After his hat trick, Chris Kreider’s on some Rangers-related lists with Messier and Gretzky now. 

As the longest-tenured member of the team, having joined the Rangers right before the NHL playoffs and right after winning an NCAA title at Boston College in 2012, I have to think he’s getting tired of being on Rangers-related lists that, otherwise, feature Stanley Cup champions. He’s playing like that, anyway, and when he does it consistently – as he has a reputation for doing dating back to the 2012 playoffs – they can unlock their most dangerous elements[2].

Acknowledging it was only the second round, the Carolina Hurricanes were a fantastic hockey team all season. After beating one of the other New York hockey teams, the Islanders, in five games before losing the first three of the second round, the Canes pushed the Rangers to drop two straight. Instead, New York handled things Thursday night by eliminating doubt, little by little[3].

Next up, the Florida Panthers await, having defeated an excellent Boston Bruins team in the same six games that it took the Rangers to fell Carolina. Like talking about the Mannings’ head-to-head record when you sense a lull in conversation, I never feel good about direct comparisons between players who don’t have anything to do with each other in the run of play – that is, a versatile goalie playing against Igor Shesterkin, acting like Spy Vs. Spy (On Ice!)  – but Sergei Bobrovsky can expand as necessary. He has the juice just often enough to wonder if he can go on an ’03 Giguère-esque run. Regardless, neither he nor the Panthers figure to be footnotes here. These Rangers are as much everybody’s as they are our own – this edition, this run, this time.

At some dawn not far from this one, the New York Rangers will have to get up, get dressed, go to the arena and do the rest. If they’re both lucky and good, they will get to prepare like this at least eight times more. After Games 4 and 5, we know they can lose; now, with the Game 6 victory and Florida ahead, we’ll learn if they can win.

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[1] The development you most saw coming: those ads are going to get even worse with AI, but yes, let’s continue laying off workers and outsourcing work to the lowest bidder as a profit-generator. Quality doesn’t matter and never has: the K@nsas City Kieffs just won the S0per Buwl. Close enough. This is what we all want and is, in fact, what the Founding Fathers wanted, too

[2] I don’t mean Matt Rempe, whose ice time is on the decline. Still! He is an actual hockey player, and he’s kind of a bad fighter despite his size. We’ll see if the Rangers, or anyone else, treats him with the care that he needs to become An Enforcer, But Not Right Now Or Ever kind of guy.

[3] With the Knicks’ Game 6 loss in Indiana Friday night, forcing a Game 7 back in MSG on Sunday that an extremely shorthanded and nevertheless undermanned Knicks team lost to the Indiana Pacers, the Rangers will elicit a more assured faith.