There was no denial from the Rangers that the home playoff losing streak was weighing on them. How could it not.
So in turn, there was a distinct sense of relief when it finally broke, the Blueshirts recording a complete 2-1 victory over the Canadiens on Tuesday night at the Garden that was equally encouraging as the no-show performance in Game 3 on Sunday night was discouraging.
They have now knotted this best-of-seven first-round series at two games apiece as the scene shifts back to Montreal for Game 5 on Thursday night, beginning a best-of-three from somewhere around equal footing.
“It was a bad couple days around here,” said Rick Nash, who was more than just a force up front again and scored the game-winning goal, his second of the postseason, at 4:28 of the second period that would end the franchise-worst six-game home playoff losing streak. “We let it all go and put it behind us, and I thought we had a pretty good performance.”
For all the tentativeness that defined Sunday’s loss, the Rangers were aggressive in Game 4, getting the puck out of their end, carrying it through the neutral zone and over the offensive blue line, and making plays when they were there to be made rather than just flipping the puck in and preparing to defend again.
Their play also woke up the previously slumbering Garden, which actually sounded like a hockey rink in the spring rather than a $1 billion library.
“Kind of came to the rink today, and, you know, can’t get worse,” said defenseman Marc Staal. “The streak was [that] we weren’t able to find ways to win at home. I think we just took a deep breath and [were] telling ourselves to just play the game, make the plays that we normally do.”
Coach Alain Vigneault made a couple subtle lineup changes, inserting 22-year-old rookie Pavel Buchnevich as well as a defenseman Nick Holden. With Buchnevich in, Vigneault had a more balanced four-line attack, able to roll the units with consistency and re-establish the speed game that they had so wanted.
“It’s a different makeup,” Vigneault said. “For me, tonight, it was important to play at a high pace. To do that, I believe you have to be able to roll four lines. By making that subtle little move there, we were able to do that.”
It also finally kept the pressure off goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who saw 24 shots and only had one get by him, an easy give-and-go on a two-on-one rush following a bad line change, finished by Torrey Mitchell at 18:37 of the first period. That tied the score 1-1 after Jesper Fast had opened the scoring for the Rangers 11:39 in, sneaking one through Carey Price’s legs after a misplay from defenseman Andrei Markov.
“We couldn’t be going back to Montreal down 3-1,” Nash said. “We were a desperate team and we knew we needed a good effort at home and we got it.”
The Canadiens pressured in the third period as the Blueshirts desperately held on to that 2-1 advantage. And quickly images from Game 2 in Montreal resurfaced, when the Rangers’ 3-2 lead evaporated with 17.3 seconds remaining in regulation and resulted in an overtime loss.
But even as Shea Weber hit the post with 1:18 remaining with Price on the bench for the extra attacker, the Rangers remained poised. It was just as they had been all night, a different team than the previous game and a different team than the Garden fans had seen in two years.
It was the team that reminded everyone this series is far from over, especially now that the Rangers have shown they can win again on Broadway.
“We needed this for so many reasons,” Lundqvist said. “It’s no secret we’ve been really disappointed with the way things have been going at home the past two years here in the playoffs. So we needed this win for the series, but also moving forward.”