NEW YORK _ The daunting math says the chance is very, very slim, but the Rangers still believe they can make the playoffs this spring.
They began the post-All-Star break portion of their schedule on Friday night at Madison Square Garden with a 4-2 victory over Detroit in the opener of a home-and-home series against the last-in-the-league Red Wings. So at least they have the chance to give their unlikely quest a quick jolt, though coach David Quinn wasn't about to assume anything.
"Right now, regardless of who we're playing, these points are points we have to have," Quinn said at the morning skate. "Obviously, when the season starts, every team states that they want to make the playoffs; we're no different than anybody else. And we can't think about that. We have to take care of the task at hand and we have to be dialed in night in and night out, regardless of our opponent, and not thinking big picture and just think about winning our next hockey game and taking it a period at a time."
Second-period goals by Pavel Buchnevich, Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin sent the Rangers on their way to a much-needed victory that did the job for now, and the teams will meet again Saturday in Detroit.
The Rangers entered the night 11 points out of the second wild-card spot, held by Carolina, with four teams between them and the Hurricanes. They held two games in hand on the Hurricanes, so it was imperative that they take the maximum four points from the two games against the Red Wings (12-36-4).
The Rangers (24-21-4, 52 points) dominated possession in the first period but could not score, thanks mostly to Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard, who made 15 saves in the period, several of them of the Grade A variety.
Once they finally got on the board, on Buchnevich's spectacular goal at 9:23 of the second period, the floodgates opened, and it was 3-0 by the time the period was over.
Buchnevich's goal was a thing of beauty, with Kreider sending a diagonal pass from left to right wing for Mika Zibanejad and Zibanejad driving hard to the bottom of the circle and sending a pass across for Buchnevich, who directed it in behind an out-of-position Howard before losing his edge and crashing into the end boards.
Kreider made it 2-0 at 11:56 when he deflected in a wrist shot from the blue line by Adam Fox for his 18th goal.
Panarin scored a magnificent goal in the final minute of the period, driving up left wing, dropping the puck behind him, then flipping it forward and backhanding a shot over Howard's right shoulder and into the inside corner at 19:18 for his 27th goal.
Zibanejad's power-play goal at 5:02 of the third period made it 4-0 before Detroit got goals from Robby Fabbri (at 5:59) and Valtteri Filppula (at 10:59) to make things somewhat interesting.
Goaltender Igor Shesterkin, starting his fourth NHL game, made 23 saves to earn the victory. Henrik Lundqvist is to start in goal Saturday.
