Brian Boyle celebrates his first goal with Brad Richards.
AP Photo/Kathy Willens

If ever there was a litmus test, the Rangers passed it last night defeating the Penguins 5-1 at Madison Square Garden. It was important for this team to beat a good team. Pittsburgh entered on a four-game win streak leading the Metro Division with an 11-4-0 record. Boasting the game’s best player Sidney Crosby headlining a vaunted offense even without James Neal, they were looking to continue their recent dominance against us.

Instead, the Rangers had other ideas. For the second time this season, they put up five on an opponent. Big difference when you do it against the Pens on Rivalry Night. Even with NBC Sports Network hyping the classic Patrick rivalry, it still was a game they needed. Especially coming off the 2-1 Duck disappointment. It allowed them to post a winning home stand. If you include the Islander win, that’s four of their last five. The common denominator has been improved goaltending. Henrik Lundqvist made some key saves early setting the tone. He finished with 28 altogether- making it the eighth consecutive game a Ranger goalie has allowed two or less. The team is 5-3-0 during that stretch. They’ve rebounded nicely raising their record to 7-8-0 inching within second place Washington and the third place Islanders.

All three are in action tonight including the Rangers’ first game against the Blue Jackets. It’s a back-to-back on the road against familiar faces Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, Marian Gaborik and Fedor Tyutin. Following realignment, Rangers Ohio is now part of the same division. They’ve had their struggles dropping four straight entering tonight. They’re not scoring much. During a back-to-back against the Pens, they scored two goals and were shutout. The struggling Sens held them to one goal the other night. They bring a 5-9-0 record in and should be plenty motivated.

For the Blueshirts, it’s a chance to keep a new rival down and at the same time, get back to .500. Something that’s felt like a long mountain climb after the poor start. They haven’t been .500 since Oct. 7 after posting a 3-1 win over the Kings the second game of the season. That was with Rick Nash. He’s been out since Game 3 with a concussion that looks to be a long-term injury. Since getting Carl Hagelin and Ryan Callahan back, their play has improved. It was on display at MSG yesterday.

After Lundqvist held them in following a shaky start, the Rangers scored twice in the last two minutes of the first period. Brian Boyle set up Ryan McDonagh’s third with 1:52 left. Boyle forced a Pens turnover behind the net and made a nice backhand pass to McDonagh in front, who beat Marc-Andre Fleury. It was part of a big night for Boyle, who was our best forward. With under a minute remaining, a sloppy Pittsburgh turnover in the neutral zone led to Derek Stepan increasing the lead to two. A strong effort from Mats Zuccarello on the backcheck turned over the puck. Chris Kreider and Zuke combined to set up Stepan, who retrieved a loose puck and beat Fleury at 19:13. He caught him leaning on a mini-break. A huge goal.

Being that it was my first game of the season, I walked around and semi toured the Chase Bridges. Predictably, the security wouldn’t let fans all the way in.  Aye. It was still great. I’ll put up some pics later. We sit in Section 419. Our seats are the second to last row. So, it’s an obstructed view minus the new scoreboard. I don’t care. As long as we’re there with the old 411 gang, it’s all gravy. You can’t beat the atmosphere. I’m not sure I can say the same for the rest of the arena. The Blue Seats are where it’s at. The building doesn’t make as much noise. I know there are plenty of diehards who still go. The new Garden looks great. It’s a lot better up top. The fan experience is much improved. Between the food choices, beautiful views of the ice and retired Knicks and Rangers numbers along with the banners, it’s excellent. Of course, it’s more crowded now that it’s completed. But I have no complaints. It was a bit odd getting back to my seat. I somehow wound up a level downstairs and walked back up. An interesting 15-minute journey. I still made it back in time and stood for the second.

For a second straight game, the officiating kind of sucked for both sides. They missed some obvious ones while inventing make up calls. It didn’t matter much. The Pens were skating in quicksand. With the exception of Crosby, they were completely outworked. They still got some quality chances on Lundqvist because of how explosive they are. I forgot to mention earlier that Ryan Callahan bailed Hank out. A Matt Niskanen shot took a funny hop and went through Lundqvist. It was headed in before a hustling Callahan pushed it out of harm’s way. The intangibles he brings to the table are why he’s such a great leader. That hard work would get rewarded later. Before our first two goals, Craig Adams also hit the post. That’s the thing about hockey. A couple of bounces and it could easily have gone the other way.

Leading by two, Boyle finally scored his first. Ironically, I sent out this tweet right before he put one past Fleury.

https://twitter.com/NewYorkPuck/status/398268162019713024

Occasionally, I get one right. I was rooting for Boyle to get one. He’s been one of their most consistent forwards so far. His goal came off a nice set up from Brad Richards and Anton Stralman. Following another Pens turnover, they won the board battle with Richards finding Boyle alone in the slot. He went stick side on Fleury making it 3-0. Any thoughts of a shutout were erased following a Benoit Pouliot minor for closing his hand on the puck. We thought the Pens were getting the penalty after Pouliot was taken down. Instead, the Pens cashed in on the power play with Kris Letang finishing one off a mad scramble. Chris Kunitz and Evgeni Malkin drew assists. Outside of that, Malkin was invisible. At least Crosby competed. Of course, the Pens had some support. But they didn’t have much to cheer about.

Before they got any momentum, a Carl Hagelin turnaround shot was double deflected by Richards and Callahan beating Fleury to restore a 3-goal lead 1:04 later. A huge goal by a clutch player. As usual, the Pens showed frustration. Kunitz decided to pick on Zuccarello. Because who wouldn’t mix it up with our smallest guy? Give Zuke credit. He’s feisty and went right back at Kunitz, who got an extra for cross checking. If the power play weren’t so cute, maybe they would’ve scored. Sometimes, they get too fancy at home. That happens throughout the league. Make the simple play over being fancy. It’s not like they didn’t have opportunities to shoot before Callahan was whistled for a dubious goaltender interference. He was shoved in by Brooks Orpik.

None of it mattered when Derek Dorsett got to a loose puck behind the Pittsburgh net and fed Derick Brassard for his third. That made it 5-1 with 10:03 left. Dorsett has quietly played well. He’s hustled and been effective finishing checks. He had a late scrap with Tanner Glass when the Pens were mad with Kreider. Crosby basically followed him up the ice. Who knows why? Pretty childish. That’s who they are. Sore losers.

Overall, it was a sound effort. Lundqvist made the big stops and we had five different scorers. A sharp contrast from when Nash first went down. The team can definitely still improve. Win tonight and that could be the start of something big.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Mats Zuccarello, NYR (assist, 3 SOG, +1 in 16:22-Zuke doesn’t take crap from no one)

2nd Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (28 saves including 12/12 in 1st)

1st Star-Brian Boyle, NYR (1st of season, assist, 4 hits, 2 blocked shots, 6 for 11 on draws, +2 in 12:29)