Amid Trade Rumors, Callahan Propels Rangers
The Rangers rolled to their fourth straight victory Tuesday with a smooth 5-1 demolition of the Colorado Avalanche at Madison Square Garden, making it all the more striking that they would consider trading away Ryan Callahan.
Callahan, their captain and longtime spark plug, scored the first two goals and very nearly a couple of others as the Rangers improved to 10-3 over their last 13 games. Yet General Manager Glen Sather could soon deal Callahan, a pending free agent, rather than grant the long-term, high-paying contract that Callahan is seeking.
About a half-dozen N.H.L. team captains have been traded over the last year, but all were captains of struggling, nonplayoff teams. The Rangers are hardly that. After a slow start and a long slog at .500, they seem to have turned a corner as they near the schedule's final quarter.
Their biggest problem this season has been against strong opponents; they went into Tuesday's game 6-14-1 against teams over .500. But they clobbered Colorado from the start, even though the Avalanche were 9-2 in their previous 11 games and had rejoined the Western Conference elite.
The Rangers rattled off 14 shots in the first seven minutes and finally beat the besieged Colorado goalie Semyon Varlamov at 14 minutes 16 seconds of the first period when Callahan put away Carl Hagelin's pass on a two-on-one break.
Callahan scored again at 17:35, after Brad Richards stole the puck deep in the Colorado end and centered to the captain in the slot. It was Callahan's 11th goal of the season.
Callahan also added an assist, finished at plus 3 and logged game highs with six shots and seven hits.
The Rangers outshot the Avalanche by 20-4 in the first period.
There was a moment's concern in the second period when Gabriel Landeskog scored at 6:37 on Colorado's first power play.
But 53 seconds later, Rangers defenseman Anton Stralman restored the two-goal lead when his shot from the blue line went in through a screen for his first goal of the season.
Defenseman Marc Staal had a busy day. In the morning, he missed practice to be with his wife, Lindsay, who was giving birth to their first child, Anna Veralyn. At night, Staal went plus 3 in a performance that included a stretch late in the second period alongside Ryan McDonagh killing off a two-man disadvantage for 1:50. That kept the Rangers in front, 3-1, at the second intermission.
Derrick Brassard scored at 1:58 of the third period, a minute after Varlamov stopped Callahan point-blank. Richards made it 5-1 with 1:36 left to play, with Callahan providing an assist.
Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves, including four difficult ones during Colorado's two-man advantage. The Rangers outshot Colorado by 43-28.
The Callahan trade rumors heated up last week, when Sather gave several teams permission to talk with his agent, and word leaked out that Sather wanted Callahan signed or gone by the Olympic roster freeze on Friday. Callahan's agent, Steve Bartlett, said he had received no such deadlines from the Rangers.
The two sides remained apart in contract talks, with Callahan believed to be seeking a seven-year, $42 million contract and Sather believed to be offering a five-year, $30 million deal. But the N.H.L.'s trade deadline is March 5, and Callahan cannot become a free agent before July 1.
So there is actually plenty of time for Callahan to stay around, especially if Sather believes the Rangers have what it takes to make a legitimate playoff run.
If they are finally beating good teams like Colorado, perhaps they do.
SLAP SHOTS
The Rangers' next game, Thursday against Edmonton at the Garden, will be their 6,000th regular-season game since they were founded in 1926. Tuesday's win put the club's overall record at 2,592 wins; 2,599 losses, including overtime and shootout defeats; and 808 ties.
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