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For this night, Alain Vigneault was a master choreographer. Juggling every line combination and two of the three defense pairings in an effort to “catch everybody’s attention,” the coach coaxed just the response he was seeking.
“When you switch everything up halfway through the season, that definitely sends a message,” Kevin Hayes told The Post following Wednesday’s 1-0 shootout victory over the Caps at the Garden. “I don’t take it as a jab. I see it as motivation.
“It kind of rejuvenates the group.”
It has to be reassuring to the Rangers — who had played footloose and fancy free for so long heading into the three-day Christmas recess — that they could buckle down and play a sound game based on a defense-oriented foundation. They were in control for much of the match, and when the Caps were able to create a handful or so opportunities, Ondrej Pavelec was up to the task in turning away 30 shots.
“It was not a good feeling in this room before we went off for Christmas,” said Hayes, who skated between Michael Grabner and J.T. Miller and went head-on against the Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom-Tom Wilson unit. “We were definitely trending the wrong way.”
The Blueshirts had been strafed by the Devils and Maple Leafs in the two games immediately preceding the hiatus, and had surrendered an average of 38 shots against over the final seven contests and had allowed 40 or more in five of the previous 10. Henrik Lundqvist — and Pavelec, in for two of the 10 — had been the very definition of targets.
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“When you talk about shots, there’s a difference between quantity and quality, but we were giving up both,” said Hayes. “We couldn’t go on that way.”
Vigneault originally had Mika Zibanejad between Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello, David Desharnais between Chris Kreider and Jimmy Vesey and Boo Nieves in the middle between Paul Carey and Pavel Buchnevich. But when Kreider left the match after the first period with what was described somewhat ominously by Vigneault as “upper-body injury — more tomorrow,” Buchnevich slid into Kid-K’s spot.
And though Ryan McDonagh remained with Nick Holden as the shutdown tandem that went up against Ovechkin, Marc Staal played the right for the first time this year with Brady Skjei on his left. And Brendan Smith shifted to the left for the fifth time this season paired with Kevin Shattenkirk.
“I think it kind of gets everybody engaged,” said Staal, who is having an encouraging bounce-back season. “You can get rather stagnant.”
Nash was outstanding, able to dominate shifts and get to the inside by using his size and speed. The Blueshirts consistently got the puck in deep and went to work on the forecheck, thus allowing the defense to stand up at the line and move the puck without constant pressure.
“We always want to play with a sound structure, but sometimes you’re forced into mistakes and you get reeling,” Staal said. “The forecheck is really where it starts. We had tighter gaps and made smart decisions with the puck.”
Ovechkin, who was forced wide on the backhand by Pavelec to end the 2-0 shootout in which Zuccarello and Zibanejad had beaten an outstanding Philipp Grubauer, was limited to four shots in 21:18, including one dangerous one from the right circle in overtime. Pavelec, who had surrendered 21 goals in 29 career games to the Great 8 while the netminder worked for the Atlanta/Winnipeg organization, was up to the task.
Some of the game’s pace was dictated by the three-day hiatus that preceded it. The fact that the Garden ice had been covered until three hours before game time because of an afternoon Globetrotters game played into it as well. And by the way, because there was no available ice at MSG, the Caps held their morning skate at home before hopping on their charter.
Still, the Rangers could have come out flat. They could have forced things that were not there. They did not. They played patient, fundamentally strong hockey.
“I personally looked at this as a challenge and I think that’s the way the rest of the guys approached it, too,” said Hayes. “I mean, something had to change.”