NHL Playoffs 2012: Rangers Reward Tortorella, Lundqvist with Game 3 Victory

New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur blinked twice when New York Rangers counterpart Henrik Lundqvist never did. Rangers head coach John Tortorella sacrificed his lone timeout at the right moment when Devils counterpart Peter DeBoer pushed it off too long.

If not for either of those factors, the Rangers would have had no business raising a 2-1 upper hand in the Eastern Conference finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But when they did, it was only fitting for the likes of Lundqvist that it was his second 3-0 shutout of the series.

For Tortorella, the way the Blueshirts propped up a 0-0 deadlock through the second intermission and then broke it via Dan Girardi was a testament to the feisty bench boss’s hidden patience.

You may never have guessed that that trait existed behind the New York bench in light of a recent string of press conferences characterized by unparalleled terseness.

But sooner or later, a team of qualified sociologists and psychoanalysts will deliver confirmation that such events only occur in the wake of a Rangers loss. Tortorella’s temper tends not to get in the way when the game is still in progress and still in reach.

On Saturday afternoon, Tortorella was animated when he needed to be, reaching his peak when there was 1:51 gone in the second period. At that point, the opposing Devils had already taken three of the period’s first four shots on goal, building upon their 11-5 run in that category from the opening stanza.

The first 20 minutes of Game 3 looked much like a carry-over from the last 10 minutes of Game 2, when the Rangers fell from ahead en route to a 3-2 loss. They had sprinkled a few shots in the first half of the period, but then went through an uninterrupted span of 9:37 without any attempted shots and 10:23 with nothing on net.

In that stretch, which included a New York power play, the Devils took 11 unanswered attempts and tested Lundqvist four times.

But not long after Tortorella’s timeout, the refreshed Rangers used a literal and figurative fresh sheet to issue their first legitimate threat of the day. Chris Kreider set up Girardi at the near point, and team captain Ryan Callahan was raring to collect the rebound, only to see Brodeur dive and snuff out his backdoor bid.

Still, by the halfway mark of regulation, New Jersey held a 20-10 edge in the shooting gallery, meaning the Rangers had taken half as much time in the second period to match their entire first-period collection.

And Lundqvist was still spotless after 40 minutes and 26 stabs. And only three of those came over the course of three penalty killing segments as his skating mates stood up to the Devils’ strikers and frequently cleared the zone.

The Rangers, meanwhile, would garner their second power play of the day at 2:11 of the third period, moments after DeBoer opted to defer his timeout after his team iced the puck. Within 68 seconds of Bryce Salvador’s escort to the box, he garnered unwanted parole as Girardi slugged home his second icebreaker of the series for New York.

Doubtlessly feeding off the instantaneous confidence, the Rangers required less than two minutes to augment their lead to 2-0. Ryan McDonagh absorbed Callahan’s feed to the near point and watched Kreider tip his slapper home from Brodeur’s porch.

McDonagh was the only one of Tortorella’s pupils to see 20 or more minutes of even-strength ice time. Among all 12 forwards, the total time on ice ranged between 14 and 20 minutes.

And ironically, McDonagh would be one of only three Ranger skaters not credited with a shot on net by day’s end. The 15 who were credited had no more than three apiece, including 10 with only one, en route to a team total of 22.

New York would subsequently take two unanswered penalties, but took a pair of shorthanded stabs at Brodeur and blocked four of New Jersey’s final nine power-play shots.

Lundqvist repelled three more while another two went wide before even strength was restored and Callahan, mere second after blocking another shot by Ilya Kovalchuk, tucked in an empty-netter.

It all went into the act of salvaging another goose egg for the resident Vezina Trophy finalist. And it went into the process of justifying an inspired, shrewdly executed and thoroughly shared cause led by the resident Jack Adams candidate.