New York Rangers: Winning finish was vital for these Blueshirts

There were mixed reactions to say the least when the New York Rangers emerged as overtime winners in the 2018-19 NHL regular season finale on Saturday.

Ryan Strome‘s overtime snipe would have sparked jubilation amongst the travelling throng of New York Rangers fans inside the PPG Paints Arena, but it was an entirely different story on social media.

With comments ranging from “you had one job” to “so ashamed to be a Rangers fan this weekend”, it is fair to say that a lot of fans were not happy with the Blueshirts’ perceived definition of tanking.

Granted, there were also a fair amount of tweets and posts applauding the Rangers for what was a titanic effort against the playoff bound Pittsburgh Penguins.

Yes, dropping to sixth in the lottery standings was hardly ideal, but NYR will still enter Tuesday night (8pm on NBCSN) with the best odds of having a top three pick for the first time in their history.

And the worst case scenario is the ninth overall pick, so the chances are that the Rangers will still walk away with a young stud with plenty of potential and upside.

However, there is a bigger picture at play here.

You can say whatever you want about tanking and the lottery draft etc, but Saturday’s win against the Penguins was and should be considered important.

That won’t be a popular opinion, I’m sure, but hear me out.

Firstly, and having been brought up in a very competitive and sports-driven family, you don’t go out as a professional athlete to lose.

It just doesn’t happen.

These are athletes who are paid to do a job and, in the case of the Rangers, there was a lot more at stake for this current roster on Saturday than just heading out on the ice and going through the motions.

There are roster spots up for grabs in 2019-20 and, as head coach David Quinn repeatedly said in the final throes of the season, certain things can’t be unseen.

So, as a result, the current vintage of New York Rangers players would have been desperate to go out and put a show on for their coach on Saturday.

They certainly did just that.

Just listen to the reaction when Pavel Buchnevich buried the tying goal with just seconds left in regulation against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.

The Madison Square Garden crowd responded in a joyful frenzy to that never-say-die attitude because that’s what you want to see from your team. You want your team to bring compete and effort to the table every single night and not give up.

That should be the minimum requirement.

And if there’s one thing the Rangers have shown consistently this season then it has been their ability to dig in and fight until the very end.

Given that this was the youngest roster in the NHL for large chunks of 2018-19, that is a huge point of encouragement going forward in this rebuild.

Consider this as well; Quinn is trying to forge a new culture within that locker room, one that is based on hard work, effort and accountability.

So the last thing he’s going to do is send his players out with the intention of losing just for the sake of rising a place or two in the lottery standings.

Fans don’t have to like that, but Quinn is drilling the right messages into his group of young hopefuls, and that’s the most important factor as this rebuild continues to gather steam.

The New York Rangers are a storied franchise with a proud history and you want players who give their all for the jersey.

Quinn has restored that pride of playing for the Rangers and winning in the manner they did against the Penguins sets a tone in the locker room and it sets a tone for the franchise.

Winning becomes a habit and that breeds confidence, which is why it is okay to be happy about winning games, even if the season is lost. It certainly wasn’t lost for the players who still had points to prove.

I hate the term ‘tanking’, I just don’t agree with the concept of it and I was thrilled to see how dialed in the Rangers were both on Saturday and in the closing weeks of the season.

Finishing 2018-19 on a winning note was the right thing for this hockey team.

Winning and wanting to win needs to be ingrained into the current class of Rangers players if this rebuild is to eventually translate into a Stanley Cup or two.

Entering the off-season full of confidence after giving everything in a battling win is the right step in that direction.