Not only didn’t the Rangers celebrate qualifying for the playoffs following their three-ring, 4-2 victory over the Devils at Madison Square Garden on Monday that signaled their earliest clinching since 1991-92, the Blueshirts barely acknowledged the achievement even to one another.
“I don’t really remember anyone bringing it up,” Ryan Callahan said before scoring the winner at 2:42 of overtime in Wednesday night’s 2-1 home victory over the Red Wings. “We knew we were in, but I guess with the way we’ve played this year, being in first place for the last while, we look at it as just the first step, though at the same time it’s nothing anyone takes for granted.”
Callahan has been a Ranger since late in 2006-07. Monday’s clinching in Game 72 represents the first time in his Broadway tenure that the Rangers haven’t gone to at least Game 80 in order to clinch a spot. The Rangers qualified in Game 75 in 2005-06, the first season after the lockout.
Two years ago, the Rangers were eliminated on the final day with their shootout defeat in Philadelphia. Last year, the Rangers qualified watching Carolina lose to Tampa Bay on television hours after their own victory over the Devils.
“It’s definitely a better scenario than we’re used to going through,” Callahan said. “Making the playoffs was our first goal going into the year, but your goals change as a season progresses, and as well as we’ve played, our goals have become winning the conference and the division.
“We also want to become a team like Detroit, where making the playoffs is treated as no big deal and as just the first step to something much bigger.”
The Red Wings and Sharks are the only two teams in the NHL that qualified for the playoffs in each of the six seasons following the lockout. Though Detroit is just a few points away from clinching its 21st straight postseason berth, the league’s longest such current streak, San Jose is on the bubble.
The Rangers, Devils, Flyers, Penguins, Canucks, Predators, Ducks Canadiens each qualified five of the first six post-lockout seasons. New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Vancouver and Nashville are on the verge of joining the Rangers as six-time party-goers.
“There’s no way I’m going to say with the way the league is that you expect to be in,” coach John Tortorella said. “That’s the goal, and I’m happy we’re in, but I don’t want that to be focus because we have a lot to do.
“I’m thrilled with the way the team has played, overachieved and answered questions that we didn’t even know we’d have, but the most important thing for us is to just go about our business and continue to improve and refine our game as we get to the playoffs.”
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Dan Girardi was selected by the New York chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association as the Rangers’ nominee for the Masterton Trophy, The trophy, named for former North Star Bill Masterton, is awarded to the player who “best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication” to hockey.
“It obviously means a lot,” said the 27-year-old Girardi, who was signed by the Rangers as a free agent after going undrafted and has emerged as a first-pair defenseman who this season was named to play in the All Star Game. “I looked up the award after I learned I was nominated for it and I feel like I fit the profile.
“I feel it’s a good description of how I project myself as a hockey player and a person.”
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Marc Staal earned the Broadway Hat for a stalwart performance in 22:07 including a sliding play that denied a centering pass defending against a two-on-one with six minutes remaining in regulation.
Michael Del Zotto, who had the primary assist on Callahan’s winner after taking a relay from Brandon Dubinsky, has assisted on four of the Rangers’ eight OT goals.
The Tim Erixon-Stu Bickel pair had 13 shifts including two early in the third period, the last ending with 13:35 to go in regulation, the Rangers cutting down to four defensemen thereafter.
John Mitchell had one shift in the third period while Mike Rupp had two and Brandon Prust had three.
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The Rangers ended a five-game (0-4-1) and 9¹/-year losing streak against Red Wings, the victory their first in the series since Oct. 25, 2003 when Mike Dunham beat Dominik Hasek at the Garden.
Rangers conclude a seven-game homestand on which they have gone 4-2 Friday night against Sabres before a three-game road trip to Toronto, Minnesota and Winnipeg that begins against the Maple Leafs on Saturday.
Rangers, Ryan Callahan, Red Wings, Red Wings, Madison Square Garden, the Devils, Red Wings, playoffs, playoffs, Devils, Philadelphia
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