It was a long time coming as the New York Rangers finally gained some ground on Boston in the playoff race. They beat the Flyers 4-1 while the Bruins lost for the first time in seven games, dropping a 6-4 decision to the Sabres.
The last time the Blueshirts made up any ground on the Bruins was on April 9 when they beat the Islanders and Boston was idle. Needless to say, gaining only two points in 14 days on their nearest playoff rival is not going to get the job done. It still provides some hope for the Blueshirts in their quest for a playoff berth.
The score was more convincing than the win as the Rangers clung to a 2-1 lead until they scored twice late in the third period. Alexandar Georgiev was outstanding in goal as the Rangers traded chances with the Flyers. It was a wild game and not very disciplined, not the kind of game that would make Coach David Quinn very happy.
Quinn said that they got sloppy after going up by two goals. “I thought we really took some unnecessary chances offensively, the old east-west ‘flu’ that we have from time to time. It really can be our detriment. We just have to do a better job of managing those situations, know when to create offense and when to live another day.”
Quinn admitted that they are scoreboard watching and with only eight games left in the season, their tragic number remains at 10, meaning any combination of 10 points gained by Boston or lost by New York will eliminate them. In other words, Boston has to win just half of their remaining 10 games to knock the Rangers out, even if the Blueshirts will all eight games they have left.
Meanwhile, the Lafrenière experiment continues with him playing on the left side of Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich. He scored a goal and added an assist for the second multi-point game of his career. Quinn complimented him saying “his wall play is a lot better.”
He said that Lafrenière “understands how to create offense at this level a little better than he did a month ago. His effort has been elevated to an NHL effort, that’s the biggest thing young players have to learn, when they get to this level. There’s a whole new definition of hard work. I think it’s something he’s embraced and he realizes it and it’s allowed him to have a lot more success over the last few weeks.”
It was gratifying to hear Quinn specify what he sees in the rookie and the reason that he has been elevated to the top line. Lafrenière played 17:49 minutes, third most among forwards and even more than Artemi Panarin. It took 47 games, but the number one pick is finally on the top line.
What the win does mean is the Rangers will be going into their two games against the Sabres with a playoffs mindset. As a result, we will probably not see any of the call ups from Hartford until the Blueshirts are officially eliminated.
Here is a video recap of the game: