This was more than one victory, though that is all that it counts for.
Because there was more to what happened, and how it happened, with the Rangers’ declarative 4-1 win over the Senators in Game 3 of their second-round series on Tuesday night at the Garden.
It was a end-to-end thumping by the Blueshirts, showing their internal confidence they talked about after playing well and losing two heart-wrenching games up in Ottawa. They defended with anger, they attacked with speed and skill, and now that they have cut the Senators’ lead in the best-of-seven contest to 2-1, they have momentum heading into Game 4 back on Broadway Thursday night.
And that means more than just one win.
“I think that we were the better team tonight,” said goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who had his easiest game this postseason while putting aside 26-of-27 mostly harmless shots. “We played with speed, emotion and determination. And we got it done, and it was great to see.”
Neither coach Alain Vigneault nor anyone in the locker room was willing to go past the fact the Rangers are still down in this series. There is an undercurrent to that sentiment, which stems from a regular season that was rife with inconsistency.
But what never has been in question is this team’s resiliency. The Rangers put aside a Game 1 loss that came courtesy of a bank shot with 4:11 remaining in regulation, and Game 2 defeat when they blew three separate two-goal leads, including a 5-3 cushion with under four minutes to play, only to lose in double overtime.
But after two days off, they took to the Garden ice Tuesday on fire and hardly let up.
“It says that we can erase an emotional loss,” said Rick Nash, who got over his own blown scoring chance in overtime of Game 2 — a chance he said he replayed in his head “over 1,000 times” — by netting his third of the postseason at 12:21 of the second period to give his team a 3-0 lead.
By then, the Rangers had already established their dominance. The line of Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Mats Zuccarello set the tone all night, and a great play from Zibanejad set up Zuccarello’s game-opening goal just 5:31 in. After a misplay from Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson was turned into an easy wraparound goal for Michael Grabner at 13:24 of the first, the Rangers had a 2-0 lead that actually seemed larger.
“I think that we set the tone right away,” said Zuccarello, who now has four goals in the playoffs. “I don’t think we played our best hockey in the second and the third. We have to improve on that, but we had a really good first period.”
If it wasn’t their best in the second and third, it surely was good enough on a night when the Senators looked lost — seemingly in line with their own self-degrading talk that has been meant to put all the pressure on the favored Rangers but has turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy. They had almost no response in the second when Nash scored on a two-on-one break with Derek Stepan, and it was followed by a great individual effort from J.T. Miller to set up goal from Oscar Lindberg at 18:17 of the second to make it 4-0.
“Most importantly, it’s for ourselves to get back in the series,” said Lundqvist, the only blemish being a goal from Game 2 nemesis Jean-Gabriel Pageau late in the second. “It was a big game for us, no question.”
Yes, the Rangers are still down, and they have hardly been flawless. Just as quickly as the momentum is in their hands, it can disappear if they don’t back it up on Thursday. But rest assured, it’s in their hands now.
“In a series, there are momentum swings,” Nash said. “They had the momentum coming into tonight, but we had a good effort. We are still down, so the next game is even that much of a bigger deal.”