It had been a long, long, long time since the Rangers last opened a season with three consecutive defeats in regulation time.
That was 1998-99, when Wayne Gretzky started what became the final year of his career — of which No. 99 had no inkling at the time — and Manny Malhotra, rather than Filip Chytil, was the 18-year-old Rangers center not getting a whole lot of ice time.
But getting out of the gate 0-3 (that became 0-4 and 0-4-1 in John Muckler’s first and only full season behind the bench nearly two decades ago) was just the fate the Blueshirts were intent on avoiding in facing the Canadiens at the Garden on Sunday following a pair of slipshod performances in their first two games.
Alain Vigneault referred to the match as a “big game” in his press briefing two hours before puck drop, and apparently the coach was not kidding.
For Vigneault, who on Saturday had said he would go with Ondrej Pavelec in goal in this one, switched plans and went back to Henrik Lundqvist a night after the King had been pulled in favor of the backup after yielding five first-period goals on 17 shots in an 8-5 defeat in Toronto.
“There was no structure in front of Hank,” Vigneault said in explaining the decision. “He’s our guy, so we’re going back to him.”
Beyond the switch to Lundqvist, who may not have had much support in front of him, but wasn’t sharp himself either Saturday or in Thursday’s opening 4-2 loss to the Avalanche at the Garden, Vigneault went directly into playoff mode by refusing to divulge his lineup.
It was Game 3 of the season, mind you. Not Game 3 of the first round of last year’s six-game victory over the Canadiens, or Game 3 of the 2014 conference finals against Montreal which the Rangers also captured in six games.
About the only thing missing — even the weather was as uncomfortably sticky as it was for the late May series in 2014 — was the same type of verbal volleying that accompanied Chris Kreider’s collision with Carey Price in Game 1 of that series.
And by the way, Price too had been lifted after only one period on Saturday, the consensus choice as the NHL’s best goaltender yanked after allowing four goals to the Capitals — three to Alex Ovechkin in the Great Eight’s second consecutive hat trick to open the season — on 14 shots in a 6-1 defeat in Washington.
And Price, also being Montreal’s “guy,” was back in nets for the Canadiens. But that wasn’t even the mildest of surprises.
But back to Vigneault, who said he was “contemplating” a few things in the wake of the opening pair in which the Rangers had not had the lead for so much as a minute.
In the aftermath of having switched his defensive pairs following Saturday’s chaotic opening period — moving Ryan McDonagh to the right with Marc Staal as his first-pair partner — Vigneault was asked whether Nick Holden would make his season debut after having been scratched from the first two.
“I’m contemplating it,” Vigneault said.
Under different circumstances, Holden would have replaced Anthony DeAngelo, who had a nervous time of it in Toronto after an early first-period turnover also immediately wound up behind Lundqvist. But DeAngelo is the right point man on the second power-play unit.
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And, equally to the point, Vigneault had benched Chytil for the final 33 minutes 3 seconds of Saturday’s match and the Rangers are not carrying a spare forward. So the coach was asked whether he would consider dressing seven defensemen, a ploy he had utilized three times in his first four years behind the bench, but each time only because of injury.
“I’m contemplating it,” was the answer. “I’m contemplating a lot of things.”
Let’s be honest here. No coach is “contemplating” changes two hours before game time unless health issues create uncertainty. When a coach says he is “contemplating” changes or “is unsure” of his lineup, he simply is saying that he doesn’t want to say.
This is the kind of thing that goes on all the time in the playoffs when coaches refuse to divulge their lineups. It is as silly as it gets. Imagine a baseball manager, two hours before a postseason game, saying he still hadn’t decided on his batting order or starting pitcher.
But this is hockey. And this was “a big game” for the Rangers.
The third game of the season.