After three consecutive lopsided defeats in which the Rangers had allowed 17 goals, no would disagree that the Blueshirts needed a victory in the worst way when they met the downtrodden and injury-ravaged Hurricanes at the Garden on Monday.
And pretty much everyone would agree that's exactly how the Rangers got that 2-1 shootout victory, and that happens to include the coach of the club, Alain Vigneault.
"There's an old American saying that you never critique a win," Vigneault said after the tedious affair was decided by Rick Nash's score against Anton Khudobin in Round Three of the skills competition.
Vigneault, a French-Canadian, was reminded he is not American.
"I'd say the same thing in Canada, too," he said, chortling.
The Rangers did clean up their own end of the ice after the preceding three implosions. They did receive excellent goaltending from Henrik Lundqvist, who was spotless in the shootout. And they remained committed to what was a fairly conservative program even though trailing 1-0 entering the third period.
"We talked between periods about how if we stuck to the process it would work out," said Nash, who beat Khudobin sweeping across the crease on his forehand. "The last couple when we got blown out, we left the middle open and kind of left our D and our goaltender out to dry.
"We wanted to get back to stops and starts in our own end and to our defensive system."
The most important thing the Rangers did, however, is win. To paraphrase the coach, when the points are totaled in the standings, "how many?" trumps "how?"
"Just because we had a great comeback last year, it doesn't mean it's going to happen this year," said Lundqvist, beaten only by Chris Terry's left-wing drive in the second period that ricocheted in off Kevin Klein's body. "We need to be on our toes and stay in the race from the get-go.
"I think right now you need every point you can get."
A year ago, the Rangers didn't surpass .500 for good until Jan. 4. The competition in the east is better this year. Heck, the competition in New York and New Jersey is better this year. The Blueshirts can't afford to dawdle.
"I think we understood the circumstance," said Ryan McDonagh, who took a baby step or two following a disappointing start. "It was important for us to stick together."
Vigneault shuffled his combinations almost endlessly through the first half of last season as he acclimated himself to his team and his players acclimated themselves to his philosophy. The coach shuffled his combinations a couple of times in this one, most notably moving Martin St. Louis out of the middle onto the right side with Nash and Kevin Hayes while dropping Anthony Duclair to the fourth line.
"Sometimes you have to shuffle the deck a little bit," the coach said. "Sometimes you have to see what can happen, what can click."
The shifts also reunited sympatico and erstwhile linemates Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello. It was Brassard, largely abysmal through the first four games, who got the deflection to tie the score at 9:40, redirecting Zuccarello's original deflection of Dan Girardi's drive from the half-wall.
"We tried to stay positive for 60 minutes," Brassard said. "The mood was positive on our bench."
The Rangers were better and more disciplined, no question, but their breakouts and transition game were muted, perhaps by a Carolina team that played without Eric and Jordan Staal and Jeff Skinner, perhaps by the Blueshirts' own lack of confidence.
No breakout, no transition means no ability for the Rangers to exploit their speed game. Their forecheck is still almost a rumor, though at least that's more effective than a power play that is 0-for-16 following Thursday's very quiet 0-for-5.
Thursday morning, hours before the game, Vigneault said he thought the power play would be fine if it moved the puck and got the same looks it had in failing to score on three advantages against the Islanders in Tuesday's 6-3 defeat.
Following the match, he was quizzed again about the power play.
"What did I say before?" he answered, laughing. "You never critique a win."
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