When asked if he was concerned about team morale in lieu of the drama surrounding waived defenseman Tony DeAngelo, John Davidson responded in no uncertain terms.
"Not a chance," the New York Rangers team president said prior to Monday's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden.
For the first two periods, it appeared as if Davidson might be off the mark. The Rangers couldn't get much going offensively and were at risk of losing for the sixth time in the last seven games. But following a tying goal from Kevin Rooney at the end of the second period, the Blueshirts woke up to exercise their third-period demons.
They had blown third-period leads in four of the previous five games, which didn't inspire much confidence heading into the final 20 minutes. But the Rangers played with the necessary determination to keep their season from slipping into a desperate place.
Chris Kreider made the crucial play, deflecting in an Adam Fox wrist shot on a power play with 9:50 to go for the decisive goal in a much-needed 3-1 win.
The Rangers (3-4-2) entered as a team that was reeling — both in terms of on-ice performance and off-ice perception.
The previous 48 hours had been marred by a postgame altercation between DeAngelo and goalie Alexandar Georgiev, and prior to Monday's game, general manager Jeff Gorton confirmed, "Yes, (DeAngelo) has played his last game for the Rangers."
"It’s not an easy day," coach David Quinn said. "I can’t reiterate that enough."
On top of that, the Rangers are dealing with the absences of forwards Filip Chytil (upper body), Colin Blackwell (upper body) and Kaapo Kakko, who was placed on the NHL's COVID-19 list prior to the game.
With the voids piling up — and many of their key remaining players off to slow starts — the Rangers have struggled to produce offense.
They went into a 1-0 hole on a Jason Zucker goal in the first period and were held without a goal until there was just 2:18 remaining in the second period.
Rooney finally scored on a scrappy play near the Pittsburgh (5-4-1) net to tie it at 1-1 and propel the Rangers to play a spirited third period.
Their power play looked effective throughout the game, but failed to come up with a goal on their first three attempts. The fourth time was the charm, with Kreider earning his fourth goal of the year with a timely tip.
Artemi Panarin assisted on that goal, and then scored an empty-netter as time expired.
Meanwhile, the Rangers' penalty kill was excellent and kept them in the game throughout the night. They killed off all six penalties, keeping the Penguins' power play off the board for a total of 12 minutes.
Igor Shesterkin earned his second win of the season, finishing with 25 saves.
