New York Rangers Defeat the Lightning
Last night’s game was bizarre. The New York Rangers skated around MSG like a team that spent the previous night out drinking until 4 am. A snail-like first period left every Ranger fan this side of the Mississippi thinking the game was over. No one thought the remainder of the game would look any different and everyone counted the Rangers out. However, we were all wrong.
The second period started with the Rangers killing the remainder of a major penalty given to Tanner Glass, who left the game on a game misconduct call, for a high-hit away from the puck. Then Derek Stepan finished propping up his mount and dialing in his scope. Firing the puck past Vasilevskiy from the top of the left circle, Stepan recorded the Rangers first goal of the game. This power play goal put the Rangers on the board and momentum was now in their favor. However, the Rangers were not out of the woods yet, they still needed a goal to tie and were about to enter the last 20 minutes of the game, which has not been the Rangers best period.
Fans everywhere were most likely still skeptical of a Rangers win, since the Blueshirts have given up several third period leads lately. This skepticism started to dissipate after Stepan came back out in the third period to score another goal and tie the game up at two.
Stepan single handily woke the Garden up with his first goal and now with his second, MSG was back to it’s lively self. Chris Kreider scored the game winning goal, a goal which was so beautiful, it makes you question why Kreider isn’t able to perform at that level all the time. However, this game winning goal could have easily been blown due to the Rangers defensive incompetence in front of Henrik.
The Rangers left Hank out to dry most of the game and that did not change late in the third. The Lightning had “grade A” scoring opportunities late in the third, but Hank was able to fend off every attempt at a tying goal and there were a lot. Lundqvist ended the game with 39 saves.
It was a great win for the Rangers considering they came back from an early two point deficit and played a man down for the last two periods, but the game also ended with Dan Girardi being helped off the ice.
AV believes Girardi will be fine, but the fact is the Rangers are down Ryan McDonagh and can ill afford to lose another defenseman with the playoffs here. Also, the Blushirts presence in front of the net on defense doesn’t existent. This is a major concern and something teams will be sure to take advantage of during the playoffs. This needs to be addressed and fixed before the Penguins pick the Rangers apart.
Penguins, Islanders, Flyers
Two of the three teams that the New York Rangers could potentially match-up with, during the first round of the playoffs, won last night. The Penguins came back from 0-3 to beat the Ottawa Senators 5-3 and the Islanders were able to take the Capitals to overtime where they scratched out the “W”. The Flyers have not played since Sunday, when they lost to the Penguins, but they will play the Red Wings tonight in Detroit.
Essentially nothing has changed, the Penguins are still in second place and three points ahead of the Rangers, while the Islanders have clinched a playoff birth and sit two points back of the Rangers. The Flyers have yet to clinch and their game in Detroit is now critical to their post-season aspirations.
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The Red Wings, Bruins and Flyers are all tied with 91 points and are the final three teams battling for a playoff spot. With the Western Conference all sewn up, the only playoff spot left is the Eastern Conference eighth seed. This means a lot for the fans of those teams, however, whichever team does end up making the playoffs will face the Capitals and whether it be the Red Wings, Bruins or Flyers, you can’t bet against the Capitals in that series.
New York Rangers vs Pittsburgh Penguins
The Penguins are three points up on the Rangers and each team only has two games left to play. The Rangers will play the Islanders tomorrow and the Red Wings Saturday, both at home. The Penguins will play in D.C. against the Capitals and in Philadelphia to play the Flyers.
With two home games left, one of which is not a divisional match-up, as opposed to two road games against divisional rivals, it can be said that the New York Rangers have a slightly less challenging road to the post-season. However, no matter what happens between these two teams, they will play each other in the first round of the playoffs. That is, as long as the Rangers don’t lose out.
The New York Rangers are two points up on the Islanders, but the Islanders also have three games left, one in MSG and two at home against the Sabres and Flyers. If the Blueshirts lose at all and the Flyers win out then the Rangers would see Atlantic division teams throughout the playoffs.
However likely this may be, the Islanders are extremely hot and have the possibility to win five in a row and end the season winning eight of their last ten. This would be extremely difficult to pull off, but the Islanders toughest remaining game will be played in MSG. Even though the Rangers have not been able to beat the Islanders this year, these teams seem to always bring each other to the brink of physical exhaustion and the Rangers, who are currently in position to play the Penguins, will want to enter the playoffs on a winning streak, which bodes for a good game between two playoff caliber teams.
Next: New York Rangers Last Week of 2016
The Rangers will most likely be up against the Penguins throughout the first round of the playoffs. Nothing is set in stone, but if everything works out nice and pretty, the Rangers will have to grind it out against a divisional rival and extremely hot Penguins squad. Regardless of what happens this last week, buckle up, these last few games and the entire post season will be ridiculous.