All Matthew Robertson could do, after he pulled up and fired a shot past Bruins goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, was black out and smile. These were the types of wins that’d evaded the Rangers for most of the season. The type where, quite simply, they scored at home. But also the type where they responded, where they blew a lead — or two — and found a way to claw back.
Hours after the first tangible sign of a trade deadline sale started coming together, and around an hour before it became official, Robertson carried the puck himself from just inside the Rangers blue line to the Boston zone and ripped the shot that gave the Rangers just their third win in 14 games — and their first victory at the Garden since Dec. 20. Defenseman Will Borgen delivered the equalizer with just over six minutes remaining before Robertson’s heroics. And with Carson Soucy scratched due to roster management as a trade to the Islanders in exchange for a third-round pick was finalized, the rest of the Blueshirts blue line adjusted to the shuffling to spark their victory.
“I was super excited,” Robertson said. “We needed the win. I think that was the biggest part, just to finally get the win.”
The hours leading up to the latest Rangers loss served as a cautionary tale for what could follow in the days and weeks ahead, as the March 6 deadline nears. They were getting close to sending Soucy — acquired in the middle of season for a third-round pick — to the Islanders. Connor Mackey was called up from AHL Hartford to serve as the seventh defenseman. Urho Vaakanainen took Soucy’s place in the lineup.
Vaakanainen capitalized on his chance to skate for just the fourth time since Dec. 21, as Cuylle deflected his shot from the point off a faceoff win just 9:45 into the opening period to give the Blueshirts an early lead. Elias Lindholm responded for the Bruins minutes later, but it took J.T. Miller just 26 seconds to hand the lead back to the Rangers — depositing a cross-ice pass from Gabe Perreault for his third goal in three games.
For once, the Rangers generated a response. For once, they managed to keep producing chances and goals at the Garden, too, amid a campaign where they’d collected just a 5-13-4 record entering the night. But then more of the same started materializing. Lindholm collected a loose rebound, spun around and whipped a puck past. Morgan Geekie snapped a tight-angle shot nearly nine minutes into the second period to give Boston a 3-2 lead, too.
The Rangers had plenty of chances to equalize, to manage a third goal, to snatch the advantage back even before Geekie’s decisive tally. They had 37 seconds of a 5-on-3 that led to nothing. Then, they finally generated it with Borgen’s third goal of the season, before Robertson, on what Miller described as a “high-end play,” won it.
“I’m really happy for the players,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think to get a win at home in that fashion, I think, is a huge boost to the group. I think this group’s been through a lot over the last three weeks or so.”
With the first shuffling of their roster now official, on an evening the organization celebrated its latest centennial theme night to honor Blueshirts legends who ushered the franchise through their 1994 Stanley Cup win and a golden era of the franchise, the Rangers provided, for most of the final two periods of regulation, yet another glimpse of how far away they are from returning to that point.
Then, their final two goals turned Monday into a rare bright spot.
“To be honest with you, I try not to think about it,” Miller said, when asked if he thinks about this being the current roster’s final days together. “It is what it is at this point. We have a close group in here. This isn’t the position any of us thought we were gonna be in at the start of the season. It’s a business, and we’re just trying to treat it like normal days. We have a lot of fun together in this room.”
