Zherdev helps Rangers climb up East standings
N.Y. tied for 6th after win over Wild; Gaborik scores first goal since return
 Frank Franklin Ii / AP Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom is out of position as the New York Rangers' Nikolai Zherdev attempts to score on Tuesday. Zherdev had a goal and assist in the Rangers' 2-1 win. |
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NEW YORK - These points were all about the standings and had nothing to do with style.
Locked in separate playoff races, the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild staged a fight of attrition that lacked grace, but provided a big payoff for whichever team would survive.
That club was the Rangers, who pulled out a 2-1 win Tuesday night and moved into a sixth-place tie in the Eastern Conference.
“I know it wasn’t the most exciting game for the fans, but that’s how you’ve got to play against a team like that,” said Rangers agitator Sean Avery, who had an assist and a fight. “They play a system that’s frustrating, but we just played through it.”
Nikolai Zherdev had a goal and an assist, and Scott Gomez also scored for the Rangers (39-27-8), who bounced back from a 2-1 loss to Ottawa on Sunday and won for the eighth time in 11 games.
Zherdev gave New York its seventh straight 1-0 lead when he beat the first-period clock and then helped set up Gomez’s second-period tiebreaking tally. New York is in a flat-footed tie with Pittsburgh, five points ahead of ninth-place Florida, with eight games remaining.
Henrik Lundqvist rebounded from Sunday’s loss with a relatively easy effort against the defensive-minded Wild. New York outshot short-handed Minnesota 30-19.
“I thought we battled through the whole game,” Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. “It looked good that they had a lot of shots compared to us, but a lot of them were not dangerous. Overall, everyone played good. (Niklas) Backstrom played good, our defensemen played really well, but we lack the scoring. You can see it.”
Marian Gaborik, who scored five goals against Lundqvist and the Rangers in the teams’ last meeting on Dec. 20, 2007, lifted the Wild into a 1-1 tie. It was Gaborik’s first goal since returning Sunday from a 38-game absence following hip surgery.
“I feel pretty good for the second game. Hopefully I can get much better,” Gaborik said.
The Wild, below the playoff cutoff line in the West, lost ground in the opener of a four-game road trip — falling for the third time in five games. They will need Gaborik’s offense to help offset the loss of captain and leading scorer Mikko Koivu, who will be out at least a week due to a knee injury sustained Sunday.
Minnesota has scored the second-fewest goals in the West (184).
“Everyone has to step up their game and pull as a team,” Gaborik said. “We need to challenge each other and just go out there and give everything. Responsibility and pressure come with it. That’s the way it goes.”
Gomez made it 2-1 when he took a pass in the slot from Avery and one-timed in his 16th goal at 2:24 of the second, 53 seconds after Gaborik tied it with his fourth of the season in eight games.
The Wild had nearly as many fights in the first period as shots. Minnesota, held to three shots, got into a pair of scraps just over 2 minutes apart late in the frame.
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