StRangers? They're not so bad with Richter around

Sporting News, The, Feb 21, 2000 by Larry Wigge

His eyes still sparkle with the competitive focus you need to stand in front of shots coming toward you at 100 mph and higher. The confidence still can be found in his voice. But there have been nights this season when even attitude hasn't been enough for Rangers goaltender Mike Richter to carry a $60 million burden on his shoulders and win.

This little guy with the bright blue eyes and contagious smile is more than doing his job in the goal crease: He's keeping the highest-paid NHL team in history in games they have no right to be in. Meanwhile, a unit made up of parts developed in five or six systems is beginning to show the kind of chemistry that will make Richter's performance worthwhile.

The whole season has become a learning process for the StRangers after the front office spent millions on free agents Theo Fleury, Valeri Kamensky, Sylvain Lefebvre, Stephane Quintal, Kirk McLean and Tim Taylor.

"The main problem is we've been an `ex-' team," coach John Muckler says. "We're all ex-Montreal Canadiens, ex-Calgary Flames or ex-Colorado Avalanches, or something else."

"We were supposed to be the best team money can buy," Fleury chimes in. "But you can't tell New Yorkers to be patient; they want to win now. And when we didn't, we heard about the $60 million payroll every day."

At times, the boos have descended from the rafters of Madison Square Garden for No. 1 center Petr Nedved, who was an underachiever until late December when the Rangers acquired right winger Radek Dvorak from Florida through San Jose in a three-team trade. That let the team put together Nedved, Dvorak and a third Czech Republic teammate, Jan Hlavac.

At times, the boos have been directed at Muckler, whose job was on the line.

Twice this season the team has had seven-game winless streaks. On December 1, the worst team money can buy hit bottom, seven games under .500.

"You can't buy a championship," Richter says. "But you can buy talent--and that's what I think we are beginning to see."

Richter isn't an excuse maker. Not even close. He's a competitor. But he admits he felt alone some nights earlier in the season, before he went 9-4-1 with a 2.34 goals-against average and a dazzling .923 save percentage in January.

But he missed All-Star defenseman Brian Leetch, who sustained a fractured right forearm on November 24. "Brian's a catalyst," Richter says. "Some nights, it seemed like we couldn't get the puck through the neutral zone without him."

Now that Nedved and the Czechmates are clicking--each of the three has had a hat trick in the past 10 games--and Leetch has returned, the team is pulling together, and Richter is getting some help. What might bring it all together, though, is an old part--former captain Mark Messier, who is rumored to be headed back to the Big Apple from Vancouver before the March 14 trading deadline.

Asked if the Rangers seem like the same team he left 11 weeks ago, Leetch says, "No, the forward lines finally look like they're ready to click. You know, you can't teach a lot of those little plays we're making out there."

The team scored two or fewer goals in 11 of the 22 games Leetch missed--and they couldn't get through the neutral zone with speed. Now, things appear to have changed. Last Friday, Leetch marveled at how much more room there was for him to operate in a 5-2 win over Boston.

The Rangers have speed, at least speed enough to look good against Eastern standouts New Jersey and Philadelphia, but that speed often comes in spurts, not with the flow that Stanley Cup contenders must have.

"I still think the Devils (who beat the Rangers three times in the past two weeks) are way ahead of us," Nedved says. "I thought we were closing ground on teams like Ottawa and Philly, but I'm not so sure we're closing ground on the Devils--maybe in the way we've played, but not in the standings."

The Devils are masters at winning the close games. That's the final test of chemistry the Rangers seek.

"We know they've been down," Devils center Bobby Holik says. "But we also know that after the last three games we had against them that we wouldn't want to face them in the first round of the playoffs the way they are coming on. They're playing with a lot of passion."

Competitive focus. Confidence. Passion. The burden of carrying a $60 million payroll on his shoulders hasn't killed Richter's spirits.

"I've played on teams with Mark Messier when he was the NHL's MVP (one in Edmonton, one in New York)," forward Adam Graves says. "Mike Richter is providing the same kind of leadership for us."

In one stretch before last week, Richter started 30 of 32 games. He not only has made the breakaway and odd-man rush saves murine, he has dramatically reduced the number of spotty goals against from two years ago.

"The ultimate gauge is wins and losses, and as a professional athlete you have to live and die by that because that's what we're paid to do," Richter says. "But goaltending is kind of like a game within a game: You have to be there to make the big save and keep your team within striking distance."