A 3-2 nail biter of a win for the Rangers over Montreal

The New York Rangers are having an  amazing season. It feels like every game is a nail biter and the easy wins are few and far between.  Despite that, they beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 and now have a 10-3-3 record.  When the game ended, the Rangers were sitting in first place in the Metropolitan Division.

It was a night when the kids stepped up as Kaapo Kakko and Julien Gauthier scored, but they also got contributions from the stars when Chris Kreider scored his 12th goal of the season. Igor Shesterkin was outstanding when he had to be and that seems to be the secret sauce for the Blueshirts.

Montreal gave the Rangers more trouble that they should have after New York was simply dominant in the first period.  They had 27 shot attempts with 17 getting through, but the only goal they could get was from Kaapo Kakko, his second straight game with a goal.

It was off a great pass from Artemi Panarin who had recovered the puck after his shot hit a Canadiens player.

The Rangers let the Canadiens back into the game when Christian Dvorak scored just 2:17 into the second period. He came out from behind the net and put a quick shot on net that went in off Shesterkin’s chest.

The Blueshirts answered right back just 93 seconds later after a nice stop by Shesterkin.  The goal cam on a rush when Mika Zibanejad laid a sweet pass on Chris Kreider’s stick for the easy tap-in.  It didn’t feel like a minute and a half because there was a fight just before Kreider scored.

Rookie Michael Pezzetta made the mistake of objecting to a Ryan Reaves check and picked a fight. It was Reave’s first bout of the season and he beat the dickens out of the kid.

About Pezzetta coach Gerard Gallant said,”You’ve got to give the kid a lot of credit, he wants to stay in the NHL and  he’s fighting one of the top guys.”

New York couldn’t get their cycle game going in the second period and the Habs seemed to have the advantage, but the period ended with the them up 2-1.

Julien Gauthier then got the monkey off his back, scoring his first goal of the season just 1:56 into the third period.  It was a hardworking effort and Gauthier’s forecheck pried the puck loose (with help from Filip Chytil) and he put a backhand past Cayden Primeau.

The Rangers cannot stand properity as Josh Anderson scored just 22 seconds after the Gauthier tally.  It was off an ill-advised attempt by Nils Lundkvist to spring Lafrenière on a breakaway and Montreal was able to turn the puck around and Anderson beat Shesterkin.

Then it was nail biting time as the Canadiens pushed hard, but couldn’t get one past the Rangers’ netminder.  Kudos to Kevin Rooney for drawing a penalty with eight minutes left when he drove to the net and was tripped.

This was a chippy game and in the final minute, Brendan Gallagher sucker punched Barclay Goodrow and the game ended with Josh Anderson and Jacob Trouba brawling after another Montreal sucker punch.

With the win, the Rangers finally got their goal differential to zero.  How unusual is this season for the Blueshirts?   Of the top 15 teams in the NHL, all of them except the Rangers have a plus goal differential.

Coach Gallant was very pleased with the effort, especially how they came out in the first period. “In our building you come out and get a lot of scoring chances,” but he reinforced his mantra to get shots on net. “Let’s get some pucks to the net and we started doing it the last three games and we’re getting good results from it.”

One thing he did say was that with players like Panarin and Zibanejad taking more shots, it’s making the seam passes they like to make more effectvie. He did concede that it was a closer game than it should have and complimented Montreal goalie Cayden Primeau who made his first start of the season.

Here’s a five minute video recap: