CALGARY, Alberta — Five years, seven months and 22 days.
That’s how long it had been since the Rangers won a game inside the rickety-yet-charming Scotiabank Saddledome.
Four seasons, not including the intradivision-only 2021-22 campaign, of making the trek out to the snowy lands of Alberta, only to lose most games by egregious margins or in overtime.
Until Tuesday night, when the 2023-24 Rangers marched into the Flames’ territory and wrestled away a 3-1 win to secure their second consecutive victory for the first time this season.
Dressing the same skaters for the third game in a row, the Blueshirts lineup is starting to develop chemistry.
Certain lines are beginning to find each other on the ice without even looking.
After scoring twice with the man-advantage in the win, one from each unit, the Rangers power play has now posted goals in five of their first six games of the season.
They look in sync.
And the team’s top guns continue to deliver in every which way, especially Chris Kreider, Artemi Panarin, Filip Chytil and Igor Shesterkin, who was sensational once again with 23 saves.
Calgary has been a tough matchup for the Rangers in recent years.
In fact, since the last time the Rangers won in Calgary during the 2017-18 season, the club has gone 1-5-1 against the Flames.
Tuesday night, however, was a heavyweight win.
One that was built on the backs of their penalty killers, who fended off all of the Flames’ power plays throughout the night, as well as the team’s overall structure that had to stand tall in a frenzy of a third period.
The Rangers trailed by a goal — scored by Blake Coleman — heading into the first intermission despite playing a tight opening 20 minutes, during which the top line of Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Kaapo Kakko was buzzing.
All three had some jump to their game, which manifested in aggressive scoring opportunities brought about by a few extended possessions in the offensive zone.
Though they never found the back of the net as a line, they worked for every inch of ice they got and caused problems for the Flames all night long.
Alexis Lafreniere scored his third goal of the season, as well as just the fourth power-play goal of his career, just over 7 ½ minutes into the second period after getting his stick on an Erik Gustafsson shot to knot the game 1-1.
The 22-year-old has looked a bit rejuvenated to start the season, while skating on the second line with Filip Chytil and Panarin.
With an assist on Kreider’s 95th career power-play goal, Panarin has recorded a point in each of the Rangers’ first six games to start the season for a second straight year.
The fast starts just keep coming for Panarin, who continues to be one of the Rangers’ most important players in the regular season.
Chytil may be overdue for a goal with the way he’s competed thus far, but the Czech center notched his fifth assist of the season on Gustafsson’s 3-1 score toward the end of the second period.
At the rate he’s going, the goal explosion should be on the horizon.
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