Rangers end a great season with a win and will face the Penguins

The New York Rangers ended their most successful regular season be defeating the Washington Capitals 3-2 in a game that was essentially meaningless to both teams, but will send the Blueshirts into the postseason on a winning note.  They start the playoffs on Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

That’s exactly what Gerard Gallant said after the game. “I’m glad we won tonight because we lost our prior three games, again, which didn’t matter a whole lot, but I’m glad we finished on a strong note cause we deserved that.  We had a good  year.  The team play really well and to get with 110 points is an accomplishment and they should be proud of that.”

Mika Zibanejad reflected on the four year postseason drought. “It’s been a grind.  It’s been a couple long years. Definitely worth the wait to be back in the playoffs.  Looking at this group that we have, I’m super happy to be part of that, to be part of the solution when everything happened. I’m just really excited to get this going.”

When the Pittsburgh Penguins jumped out to a 3-0 lead less than seven minutes into their game with the Columbus Blue Jackets, it was obvious that the Capitals could do nothing to alter their fate and the game was mostly for pride.  By winning the Rangers avoided their first four game losing streak of the season and they did it with a lineup of mostly  regulars with three notable exceptions. Artemi Panarin, Andrew Copp and Igor Shesterkin sat out the game, but the rest of the starters were in action.

The good news is that most of the Rangers avoided injury.  The only possible issue was when Lars Eller fell on Ryan Lindgren and he fell awkwardly, twisting his foot.  It happened with just three minutes left int he game.  He left the ice gingerly and didn’t play again, but it was very late in the game. There was no word after the game about the severity of the injury.  Knowing Lindgren, he will be in the starting lineup when the playoffs start.  He was on the ice for the annual “Blueshirts Off Our Backs” ceremony after the game.

The game itself was typical of a game of no consequence.  While they played hard, it was mostly without an edge and there wasn’t a lot of big hits.  Alexandar Georgiev had an excellent game, concluding an outstanding recovery from a horrible beginning to his season.

Gallant wasn’t happy with the play, but was relieved that the game was over. “I’m glad tonight’s over. I thought it was real sloppy…It hasn’t been that bad in two weeks, but when you clinch early and you got a lot of games and you try to make them meaningful…tonight it was pretty sloppy.  Anyway, it’s a nice way to finish with the win.”

Alexis Lafrenière started the game on a line with Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil, but ended the game skating with Ryan Strome and Barclay Goodrow.  He was on the “kid line” for the first Ranger goal by Filip Chytil and was set up by Strome on his own goal, his 19th of the season.

Chytil’s goal came off a miscue by the Capitals and a bad play by Ilya Samsonov who didn’t hold the post and Chytil was able to force the puck through him and into the net.

It came 3:26 into the second period and gave the Rangers a short lived lead.  One of the bugaboos for the Blueshirts this season has been a habit of surrendering a goal right after scoring and they did it again, with Justin Schultz scoring just 35 seconds after Chytil. Braden Schneider had a chance to clear, but his attempt was weak and the Caps kept the puck in the Rangers’ zone. This was one that Georgiev might have wanted  back.

Just 72 seconds later, when Kevin Rooney was off for a trip of Garnet Hathaway, John Carlson scored a power play goal off a point shot that Georgiev never saw, giving the Capitals a 2-1 lead.

It took 10 minutes, but the Rangers tied the score on Alexis Lafrenière’s goal on a sweet give-and-go with Ryan Strome after Carlson lost the puck at the blue line.

The Rangers broke the 2-2 tie on a goal by Dryden Hunt  who had replace Lafrenière on the kid line. It was undeniably the best goal scored by Hunt this season.

Kaapo Kakko got the puck to Hunt on a three-on-two. The  Ranger faked a shot then deked around Samsonov and scored.

The Caps pushed hard to tie the score, pulling their goalie with over three minutes left and having a two man advantage after Barclay Goodrow took a penalty.  A Mika Zibanejad shot hit the post on the empty net and Georgiev had to make some outstanding saves to preserve the win.

Here is an extended video recap of the game.

My 3 Rangers stars

1. Alexandar Georgiev gets the first star for an excellent game in what may be his last regular season appearance in a Ranger uniform.  He made some outstanding stops including a point blank Tom Wilson shot late in the third period. He stood tall when the Caps pulled their goalie and were swarming.
2. Dryden Hunt made the move of the year on the winning goal, scoring a goal scorers goal.  It was good to see him rewarded for his hard work and you have to know it made Gerard Gallant really happy.
3. Alexis Lafrenière played another excellent, especially after being moved up to the second line on the left side of Ryan Strome.  You have to believe that if he had played in the top six on the left wing and had seen some more power play time, he could easily be a 30 goal scorer.

The official 3 stars

1. Dryden Hunt
2. Alexandar Georgiev
3. Braden Schneider

What’s next

The Rangers open their playoff series against Pittsburgh on Tuesday night at 7pm and the game will be televised on ESPN as well as the MSG Network.