Happy with the effort, sure. And for their sanity, happy with the result.
In what could have turned out to be a disastrous loss due to a controversial late goal in regulation, the Rangers still managed to sneak out on the better side of Monday night's contest against the Maple Leafs. The Blueshirts claimed a 2-1 shootout victory when Cam Talbot denied Nazem Kadri in the third round of the skills competition, allowing the Rangers' two tallies from Mats Zuccarello and Derek Stepan to stand up.
The Rangers outshot the Leafs 43-26, most likely causing the puck-possession stat geeks up north to have a conniption about how much the Leafs rely on their goaltending. Which is to say, the only reason they were in the game was because of the sterling play of goaltender Jonathan Bernier, who stood tall as the Rangers had chance after chance throughout the second and third periods.
And it was Bernier's play that allowed for what happened with 1:24 remaining in regulation, as the Leafs had a power play just expire as former Devil David Clarkson jammed the puck just underneath Talbot's left pad but in front of the goal line. There it sat without the aid of a referee's whistle, and from there it was swept in by Kadri, tying it 1-1.
The Rangers had their own rock in net, as Talbot had played a terrific game up to that point, his second in a row starting for Henrik Lundqvist. Talbot looked close to getting his third shutout of the season, but the late goal — which was hotly disputed by all the Rangers on the ice and caused forward Brian Boyle to break his stick on the pipe — undid all that good work.
The Rangers finally got on the board midway through the third in a game they had controlled from the start of the second period. After 47 minutes of scoreless hockey, Chris Kreider held the puck behind the Toronto net as his center, Derek Stepan, went off for a change and J.T. Miller came streaking onto the ice. Kreider found the streaking Miller in the slot, and he beat Bernier to give the Blueshirts a 1-0 lead.
"If I'm part of our dressing room, or any dressing room within our division, it's so tight, all the games are very, very important," coach Alain Vigneault said before the game. "Players should be up for every game."
The Rangers (18-18-2) finished their nine-game homestand with a 3-4-2 record, not exactly what they were looking to do going into the three-day Christmas break. The schedule resumes with a five-game road trip, starting Friday in Washington, where it's most likely Lundqvist will get back in nets.
The Maple Leafs (18-16-5) came into the game having not exactly put on a show for HBO's cameras, here to film the "24/7" documentary leading up to their New Year's Day Winter Classic matchup against the Red Wings. They were 2-5-1 in their previous eight and were just 6-8-3 on the road this season.
"Toronto is more of a high-tempo team," Vigneault said beforehand. "They like to attack you in waves, they like to have their [defensemen] to join."
After a scoreless first period when both Talbot and Bernier faced few good scoring chances and allowed almost no rebounds, the pace began to pick up in the second.
Five minutes in, Ryan McDonagh took a long wrist shot that found its way through traffic and past Bernier — but clanked off the left post and the game remained scoreless. That did get the crowd into it, and seemed to energize the Blueshirts' bench, as well.
Zuccarello continued his inspired play and had two great chances midway through, as did Rick Nash from the slot on the power play. Yet despite the Rangers outshooting the Maple Leafs — 22-5 for the period, 31-15 overall after 40 minutes — the game was still 0-0.
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