UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- After the New York Rangers' 6-2 victory over the Islanders on Thursday, the best player of the night stood in front of his locker in the cramped visitors' dressing room at the Nassau Coliseum.

As he politely answered questions from the media, he slowly applied an oversized ice pack to each knee. He continued by carefully wrapping both icy knees with an extra wide ace bandage. When he finished, he pulled his dress pants over the melon-sized wraps, and headed for the door.

Such is life these days for 35-year-old Rangers goalie Mike Richter, who has spent his last two summers rehabbing separate knee injuries and is playing in the final year of his Rangers contract. Judging by the knockout 37-save performance Thursday against the surprising Islanders, Richter is very much back on his game. He was especially tough on Mariusz Czerkawski. The Isles' goal-scoring right wing ripped seven shots at Richter, including three point-blank bullets, but was left shaking his head when the final buzzer sounded.

Down the hall, in the home dressing room, Isles rookie head coach Peter Laviolette knew exactly who beat his team.

"Give a lot of credit to Mike Richter," Laviolette said. "He played a great, great game tonight."

Richter's return to form is a necessary ingredient for the Rangers, who are starting to put things together in recent games. But, for as well as things have gone in their last three games -- all victories -- they know they go nowhere without Richter.

And, neither will Team USA at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Salt Lake. That's why U.S. coach Herb Brooks kept a close eye on Richter from his seat in the press box. He must have loved what he saw. Vintage Richter, stopping shots from all angles.

Richter, if you remember, backstopped the U.S. to the World Cup title in 1996. More than five years later, when healthy, Mike Richter is still the best American goaltender.

So, if you love the Rangers or plan on rooting for Team USA to bring home a gold medal, just hope those postgame ice bags keep Richter's cranky knees nice and cool. From the looks of things Thursday, when his wheels are right, Richter still can get it done.

E.J. Hradek writes puck for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at ej.hradek@espnmag.com.