Rangers are East's top dog

Rangers are East's top dog

TOM MIHALEK/AP

Rangers goalie Henri k Lundqvist stops the Flyers' Zac Rinaldo as Michael Del Zotto (c.) defends.

NY RANGERS 5, FLYERS 3

PHILADELPHIA The last time the Rangers finished first in the Eastern Conference, they went on to win the Stanley Cup.

Eighteen years later, the Blueshirts are finally back in the No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs, clinching home-ice advantage through the East finals with a 5-3 win over the Flyers at Wells Fargo Center Tuesday night that opened like the Rangers were tired of waiting for the pursuing Penguins to surrender that last point, scoring four goals on Philly and riding a stellar performance by Henrik Lundqvist (37 saves).

We wanted to come in and take care of our business and control our own destiny, said Ryan McDonagh, who opened the scoring with his first goal in 25 games and later added an assist.

We wanted to go in winning, said captain Ryan Callahan, who pushed his career-high g oal total to 29, burying one of two Blueshirts power play tallies.

Coach John Tortorella took particular pride in the Rangers win guaranteeing that when the regular season concludes on Saturday night against the Capitals, New York (51-22-7, 109 points) will have held first place in the East for exactly 100 days dating back to a Dec. 30 victory over the Panthers in Florida.

We wanted to get away from being the seventh, eighth or ninth team and try to get up into the middle of it here, said Tortorella, who missed the playoffs in his first full season with the Rangers and backed into the eighth-seed last season, falling in a five-game first round series to Washington. We kept on pushing, we kept on working at our game each day, and then you find yourself in a situation where were being chased since December, as far as when were in the top of our conference.

Its been a great experience for our team in a regular season situation, being chase d as much as we have been and for so long, to handle themselves the proper way, especially in the month of March I think its something as you go through and youre still with this team that they can rely on, they can lean on, if they get into (those) type of situations.

The Rangers captured the franchises fourth division title since the leagues 1967 expansion from its Original Six and earned home-ice advantage in any playoff series since 1995-96. In the first round, there is a chance they could face the Capitals (88 points), Sabres (88 points), Panthers (91 points) or Senators (92 points), from most likely to least likely.

After Tuesday nights win, Blueshirts players surrounded Lundqvist in front of his net for a subdued celebration. Their postgame comments echoed their actions: this feels great, but its only the beginning.

Its a great sign of how many good things weve been doing all year and how consistent weve been, said Lundqvist, who suffered a stinger in his right arm from a Claude Giroux shot in the second period but returned for the third. After Saturday, its going to be a great feeling knowing we finished first, but then when you play the next game, it doesnt mean anything really. Yeah, we have home advantage thats a big thing but it doesnt really get us anything. But it is a great accomplishment.

Lundqvist had ice on his right forearm and wrist after the game. He said he had trouble gripping his stick in the third period and would probably feel even stiffer on Wednesday, making it likely he doesnt play in Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

The Blueshirts, who are now just one win short of their all-time franchise record set by that same 1993-94 Stanley Cup team are still chasing their third-ever Presidents Trophy for the best mark in the NHL, competing with the Vancouver Canucks (107 points going into Tuesday night) and St. Louis Blues (106) of the West.