The out-of-town scoreboard does not appear to favor the New York Rangers. The Montreal Canadiens overcame the Boston Bruins 4-1 to collect another two points and move them two points clear of the New York Rangers. With a loss, the Canadiens would have fallen below the Blueshirts on points percentage, and this now puts pressure on the Blueshirts going into the weekend, when the Rangers face one of their Metropolitan area rivals.
Boston is at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, so expecting help from the Bruins at this point of the season might have been more optimism than realism. It would have been nice to see the Bruins get the better of their Canadian rivals, but they fell 4-1 to the Rangers' playoff rivals. They were unable to do the Rangers a favor, and now we need to start looking at the Rangers final seven games and how they can get into the dance at the end of the year.
Now, the Rangers are two points behind the Canadiens. Montreal has 81 points from 75 games and a .540-point percentage. Although they only have 26 regulation wins, they remain ahead of the Blueshirts because they capitalized on their game in hand. New York has 79 points from its 75 games, and now the Blueshirts are looking for someone else to defeat the Habs to allow the Rangers to close the gap.
Montreal's run-in to the finish line will be difficult, especially for a young, inexperienced team. They will drop points, and there will be times when the lights are too bright and the pressure is too much for the young team. New York needs to keep winning and apply pressure to the Canadiens to get over the line when the Canadiens falter. New York cannot let the Canadiens get too far away.