Blue Line Station
Fansided

After four goals in the third period and a 5-2 win over Montreal, words cannot describe this team

By Steve Paulus

MONTREAL, QC - FEBRUARY 27: Ryan Strome #16 of the New York Rangers (C) celebrates an empty net goal with teammates Alexandar Georgiev #40, Jacob Trouba #8, Marc Staal #18 and Phillip Di Giuseppe #33 against the Montreal Canadiens during the third period at the Bell Centre on February 27, 2020 in Montreal, Canada. The New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - FEBRUARY 27: Ryan Strome #16 of the New York Rangers (C) celebrates an empty net goal with teammates Alexandar Georgiev #40, Jacob Trouba #8, Marc Staal #18 and Phillip Di Giuseppe #33 against the Montreal Canadiens during the third period at the Bell Centre on February 27, 2020 in Montreal, Canada. The New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 4
Next
MONTREAL, QC – FEBRUARY 27: Ryan Strome #16 of the New York Rangers celebrates his goal with teammate Artemi Panarin #10 against the Montreal Canadiens during the third period at the Bell Centre on February 27, 2020 in Montreal, Canada. The New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC – FEBRUARY 27: Ryan Strome #16 of the New York Rangers celebrates his goal with teammate Artemi Panarin #10 against the Montreal Canadiens during the third period at the Bell Centre on February 27, 2020 in Montreal, Canada. The New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

The improbable streak continues.  The New York Rangers came back from a 2-1 deficit and scored four goals in the last nine minutes of the game to beat Montreal and move two points out of a playoff spot.

Montreal is becoming a city for comebacks for the New York Rangers. When trailing after two period, they’ve comeback to win three times this season and they’ve done it twice against the Canadiens, both times at the Bell Centre.  Four unanswered goals in the third period led to a 5-2 win and they are now only two points behind Columbus for the last wide card spot and have two games in hand.

All of the usual ingredients came through as Mika Zibanejad scored in his sixth straight game, but it was Phil DiGiuseppe who scored the most important goal.  Adam Fox had a spectacular game, recovering from a puck off his skate into his own net.  Ryan Lindgren had  his second straight two assist game, Ryan Strome contributed with two goals and Julien Gauthier got his first point as a Ranger, assisting on the game-tying goal.

The Rangers have now won nine road games in a row, not just the longest streak in the NHL season, but the longest streak in the NHL in two years.   If they can beat Philadelphia Friday night, they will do something accomplished by only seven teams in modern league history.

Just as impressive is their overall record of nine wins in their last ten including a four game winning streak and their current five game winning streak.  This after the team was unable to string together three wins in a row in seven tries earlier this season (they did it once in November).

After two periods of underwhelming hockey the entire team turned it on in the third period and once they tied the game they were relentless.  They couldn’t have done it without spectacular work by Alexandar Georgiev  who withstood a  barrage of shots in the first two period.

Something really special is building with this New York Rangers team.  While they amazing comeback in November was something special, the Rangers are making  this kind of effort almost commonplace. It’s just a matter of who will be the hero of the night.

Now, the Rangers head into a home and home with the Philadelphia Flyers who are riding their own four game winning streak and are 13-3-1 in their last 17 games.  How important are these games?  If the Blueshirts win both they will be one point behind the Flyers and will begin thinking about finishing  among the top three teams in the Metropolitan Division.

It’s hard to believe.

Home/Analysis