NEW YORK _ The well-deserved tribute _ a video montage of Derek Stepan's playoff goals and celebrations _ came during a timeout with just under five minutes to play in the first period Thursday and the crowd rose in applause. The honoree, still wearing No. 21, but in visitor's white at Madison Square Garden, stood near the Arizona Coyotes bench, raised his stick with one hand, and tapped his heart with the other.
After all, Stepan's professional roots are here, after being drafted in 2008. He played 515 games as a Blueshirt with 128 goals and 360 points and appeared in 97 playoff games, which ranks fourth-all time for the franchise.
Stepan wanted to be a Ranger until he retired, but learned a lesson: Nothing lasts forever. "It was a date I certainly circled," he said, and hoped for "a win, plain and simple."
But it was not the night he had envisioned, as the winless Coyotes fell to 0-9-1 with a 5-2 loss.
The evening capped a long summer journey. Six weeks after Stepan walked out of the Rangers training center on breakup day in May after a playoff ouster at the hands of the Ottawa Senators, he and goalie Antti Raanta were shipped west for the No. 7 overall draft pick and defenseman Tony DeAngelo.
"I certainly wasn't shocked by it, but it surprised me a little bit," Stepan said Thursday. "We all kind of knew there was a chance someone could go ... with the exception of Ryan (McDonagh) and Hank, everyone was kind of uneasy. It happened to be me."
At the Garden, where he skated for seven seasons, Stepan recalled that he had "played against certain buddies in the league, now I'm playing against a whole roster of buddies. But when the puck drops, both teams are dying for those two points. I hope I don't treat it differently, and they don't treat it differently."
For all his key goals, Stepan had struggled mightily down the stretch last season _ at one point going 23 games without a goal _ and was 2-4-6 in 12 playoff games with a 41 percent faceoff success rate. General manager Jeff Gorton wanted to create cap room in his pitch for free agent Kevin Shattenkirk and Stepan's no-move clause was going to kick in this summer, leaving the Rangers with a $6.5 million cap charge. Hence the trade.
On Thursday, after winning just two of their first 10 games, the Rangers responded early: Off a rush, Mats Zuccarello dished a no-look pass to Chris Kreider, who slammed the puck past rookie Adin Hill for a 1-0 lead at 8:01. Pavel Buchnevich's wrister from the left wall went under Hill's glove and off the iron and in at 15:57. Former Ranger Anthony Duclair beat Ondrej Pavelec low after the puck banked off David Desharnais skate right to him at 5:13. Just 49 seconds later, Michael Grabner took a one-handed sweep pass from center Boo Nieves, and beat Hill. It was the second assist for Nieves, who was called up from Hartford Wednesday. Nieves' third assist came on Buchnevich's second goal.
Stepan and the Coyotes were heading to New Jersey next, and because the Coyotes have been in the city for a few days on this road swing, Stepan had a chance to see some of his pals. "I thought it would be a lot of hockey talk, but it was life talk, catching up," he said. Stepan and his wife, Stephanie, are included in that category; their second child, a girl, was born three months after news of the trade broke.
"I've played in so many games, here and it's not easy to leave a fan base that treated me so well," Stepan said. But the cord with the similarly-struggling Rangers was officially severed. "Honestly, all I've really seen is their record and highlights. And I'm invested here (with the Coyotes), I don't have any time to help them out."
