Blue Line Station
Fansided

New York Rangers: Three keys to a tough 4-2 loss to Montreal

By Steve Paulus

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 01: Montreal Canadiens Center Max Domi (13) and New York Rangers Defenceman Libor Hajek (43) in action during the third period of the National Hockey League game between the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Rangers on March 1, 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY. (Photo by Joshua Sarner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 01: Montreal Canadiens Center Max Domi (13) and New York Rangers Defenceman Libor Hajek (43) in action during the third period of the National Hockey League game between the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Rangers on March 1, 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY. (Photo by Joshua Sarner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 3
Next
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 01: Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens makes the second period save on Vladislav Namestnikov #90 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on March 01, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 01: Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens makes the second period save on Vladislav Namestnikov #90 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on March 01, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

My three stars of the game

Vlad Namestnikov

played an incredibly dynamic offensive game.  He scored, beating Carey Price with a crazy deflection.


He continues to be an offensive force, but as noted earlier, he just doesn’t seem to have the hands.  Still, he is making his line a threat every time he is on the ice and that helps a lot.

  • Brendan Lemieux will become a Garden favorite very soon and his goal further propelled him to that status.  He took a penalty in a scrum behind the net, was chattering throughout the game and scored the Rangers second goal from the dirty area in front of the net that is so frequently absent of Ranger players.  No one has been able to pinpoint what he did to get the ten minute misconduct at the end of the game.   He was a force.
  • Libor Hajek gets the third star simply because he had a mistake free game.  With a ton of pressure, he played smart and showed why he is so highly regarded. The rest of the defense corps had their issues.  Skjei was awful.  Staal was beaten on one of the goals.  Shattenkirk turned the wrong way on the third goal. Pionk and DeAngelo didn’t do anything wrong either, but let’s give it to the kid.

    • The official three stars

    1. Joel Armia
    2. Carey Price
    3. Vlad Namestnikov
    Home/Analysis