Last night, the Rangers took on the Philadelphia Flyers at Madison Square Garden in a game that had very serious playoff implications. When it was done, Rangers back-up goaltender Kevin Weekes delivered a performance for the ages, backstopping the Blueshirts to a 3-2 shootout victory, their first playoff berth since 1997, and a four-point lead over the Flyers for the Atlantic Division lead.

Not surprisingly, the game between these fierce rivals began with some nasty physical play, and just two minutes in, Rangers grinder Ryan Hollweg faced off with gritty Flyers rookie Michael Richards. Hollweg won the bout by a decision, and turned Richards’s challenge into a well-timed opportunity to energize the Garden crowd.

The Blueshirts jumped out to an early lead when Michael Nylander consummated a gorgeous tic-tac-toe passing play and redirected a Sandis Ozolinsh feed past an out-of-position Robert Esche.

Six minutes into the second period, the Flyers struck back when star center Peter Forsberg delivered a picturesque centering pass to Mike Knuble. Knuble – a former line-mate of Wayne Gretzky when both played for the Rangers in the late 1990s – lifted the puck past Weekes to knot the game at one.

The Flyers scored again with just over 12 minutes remaining in the second period when Knuble broke in along the right wing and fired a shot at Weekes, who made a left pad save. But the rebound trickled out towards a waiting Simon Gagne, who buried the puck past Weekes to give Philadelphia the lead.

Just over five minutes into the third period, the plucky Rangers tied the game. On a broken play, Michael Nylander fired a wrist shot at Esche and Martin Straka fired the rebound into a gaping net.

Weekes started last night’s game in place of Henrik Lundqvist, who was out with a hip injury suffered in practice, and his play improved with each passing moment. The first indication that this would be a special night for Weekes came in the third period, when talented Flyers rookie Jeff Carter broke in alone and drove toward the Rangers’ net. Weekes threw himself across the crease like a rag doll, tossing his leg pad up to deny Carter with a spectacular save, the first of what turned out to be a half dozen game-saving stops.

The Garden crowd has not been particularly kind to Weekes this season, and with good reason – his numbers at the Garden have been far inferior to Lundqvist’s. But last night, the fans supported the Rangers’ back-up goalie like never before, chanting his name over and over, louder and louder, as the third period progressed.

Though the Rangers’ power play was suffering from a severe power outage last night, they did keep the Flyers on their heels all night long. When all was said and done, they had out-shot Philadelphia 40-23 and outplayed their division rivals by a significant margin. But the game remained knotted, and so for the fourth time in seven games, the Rangers found themselves competing in a shootout.

The Flyers jumped out to an early lead when Simon Gagne lifted a backhand past Weekes on the opening shot, but it was to be the last time Philadelphia found the back of the net. Goals by Michael Nylander and Petr Sykora secured the victory for the Rangers, one that could prove crucial for a number of important reasons.

First and foremost, the Rangers took a four-point lead over the Flyers for the Atlantic Division lead, and winning the division will likely prove to be crucial for the Blueshirts’ Stanley Cup hopes. The Atlantic Division winner will be the Eastern Conference’s third seed, and would face one of either the Devils, the Tampa Bay Lightning, or the Montreal Canadiens.

All three of those teams are quite flawed, and the Rangers match up well against each of them. The Devils suffer from a severe lack of scoring depth, the Lightning are illogically depending upon mercurial netminder John Gra hame, and the Canadiens – while benefiting from the red-hot goaltending of Cristobal Huet – have been extremely inconsistent.

Failing to win the division, however, would mean a first round matchup against the speedy Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres are currently two points ahead of the Blueshirts, and because they are unlikely to catch the first-place Senators, they are going to finish as either the fourth or fifth seed. Needless to say, the Sabres will prove to be an extremely tough first round opponent for either the Rangers or the Flyers, especially if they hold home-ice advantage.

To understand how critical home ice advantage would be for the Rangers, one need only look at the home/away statistical splits for Lundqvist. In 22 road games, Lundqvist has compiled a middling 9-6-5 record – two games below “actual” .500 – to go along with a .909 save percentage and a 2.63 goals against average. But in 30 home games, “King Henrik” has ruled Madison Square Garden, posting a 21-5-4 record, a .934 save percentage, and a 1.86 goals-against average. In all, the Rangers are 24-8-6 at home and only 18-13-6 on the road, virtually mirroring Lundqvist’s home/road splits.

With last night’s victory, the Blueshirts ensured that they will hold the advantage in any tiebreaking scenarios. At best, with a regulation victory when the teams play again in Philadelphia on April 15th, the Flyers would even their record against the Rangers at 10 standings points apiece. But the Blueshirts’ huge advantage in goal differential (currently +41) would give the Rangers the division on the off chance that the Flyers are able to close the fourpoint gap in the standings.

At the conclusion of the shootout, the Rangers’ public address announcer let the fans know that a playoff spot had been clinched. And so, for the first time in a long time, the Rangers’ diehard fans cheered loudly, dreaming once again of postseason glory and the possibility that Lord Stanley’s cherished chalice could find its way back to Madison Square Garden.

Mr. Greenstein is the Editor in Chief of InsideHockey.com.