The Rangers were home last night against the Montreal Canadiens. Pre-game festivities included Trocheck being named the Steven McDonald Extra Effort awardee for the 2023/24 season. Kudos, it was well deserved.
As to the game – the Rangers had a tough time getting on the score sheet until late in the game. Though they outshot Montreal 16-11 in the first, the Canadiens came away with the only score, Caufield (24) at 19:30. Giving up late period goals continues to be a very, very long term problem for the organization and clearly no coaches or players have found a solution, yet. 1-0 Montreal.
What better way to jump start the Ranger offense than to give them a power play? That is exactly what Les Habitants did midway through the second period, Zibanejad (25) with a ‘thank you very much’ deflection off a Montreal skater, assisted by Panarin (67) and Fox (54). One might as well assume Panarin assisted on any goal until you hear otherwise. 1-1 after two, the Habs still hanging around.
And then came the third period when the team decided enough is enough, time to play hard for 20 minutes and go get some steak. Kreider (38) led the way with another PPG tip-in, assisted by Panarin (68) and Zibanejad (42) at the 03:59 mark. Just over two minutes later, starting with some very good board work in the defensive zone, Schneider (14) got the puck out to Panarin who raced up the right side, passing across to a waiting Lafreneire (29) who completed the give and go back to Panarin (46) for the score. 3-1 NYR
Montreal tried to again make a game of it, cutting the lead to 3-2 on a very uncovered Newhook (13) in the slot for an easy goal at 12:13. Needing some insurance, Vesey (in for healthy scratch Roslovic) got the puck in the corner and found Zibanejad (26) at the doorstep who kicked the puck on his stick and beat Premeau wide. Lafreniere (27) would finish Montreal off with an ENG at 18:45, Panarin (69) and Miller (22) notching assists.
A lot of ink after the game as the Rangers tied the club win record at 53. However, perhaps an asterisk or cross is needed as this comes in the age of shootout wins. The 1993/4 team had 52 wins in the pre-Bettmanization of OT, though with 84 games, not the current 82. Should the current team win out their last four games they would have 54 ROW and would not need any explanatory notes!
Up next, the Icelanders on the Island, Tuesday night at 7:00 PM EDT on MSG and MSG2.
59 responses to “Rangers 5, Canadiens 2”
The battle for third in the Metro and the second wildcard is quite heated. It would be nice if both the Icelanders and Filth missed out as a result of last game losses (or wins by others). Maybe even losing a tie breaker like 7. The greater number of goals scored (including goals scored in Overtime or awarded for prevailing in Shootouts) for the entire regular season. This figure is reflected in the GF column. 😂
right now Detroit at 84 has WC2, Icelanders +2 pts over Pens and Caps and Filth (who played one more game).
Is there anybody out there?
they played hard all game..sometimes the other goalie is better
Some are out ofthe closet but under the radar.
Is there presently a larger bargain in the League than Jimmy VC at 800 per? And he’s got another season under contract.
What happened to the ‘new’ netminder equipment rules? Some of these guys seem artificially huge again.
Primeau is another walrus in net. They did get 4 past him.
admiral
you can’t possibly hate the isles fanbase more than i do. their smugness knows no boundries. especially those i went to school with. makes my blood boil.
looking like we’ll play one of these 3
none is a good choice
tampa
pitt
isles
much rather play detroit, philly or wash but not looking likely. detroit has best chance of these 3
Violet seems an ideal boss to play for. Keeps your ego intact. …but are you learning?
Little Zac has eclipsed #79. He learns, improves.
worst best team ever!
Even Mika with his forlorn looks and hapless goal celly knows he has been a dog this season. 9 year NTC…what could go wrong?
Lots of pearl clutching about potential playoff opponents, but facts are ya got to beat whoever comes in front of you. Man up buttercup!
we need to win some series quickly. which is also why i want to play det, wash or philly
TheRangers hAve not beaten the Wings in a playoff series since 1933,so there’s that?
I don’t think we’ve seen the Rangers win a playoff series in less than 6 games since 2015? And before that 2008. So yeah a few quicker series wins where they dominate and nobody goes to the hospital would be nice 🙂
If the Rangers tie for the division, conference, or President’s Trophy, they have the first two tiebreakers over virtually anyone who can tie them.
I think that Zac Jones should be the #6 and Gustafsson the #7. the increase in confidence has made a huge difference in his game. I don’t expect the veteran-preferred Laviolette to do that, but I think he should.
jones and his small stature would be creamed against most playoff teams we’d face
Man, things sure have changed. Gary Cohen (Met’s lead yakker described the other day an opposition 6 foot, 190 lb. pitcher as ‘small.’
#23 will be targeted round by round.
Trouba to wife: ‘Babe, if we win the President’s Cup, we’ll have enough money to buy that new toaster oven you’ve been wanting.’
Total Eclipse of the Hart (Trophy).
i was very hesitant, but im liking VC on the 1st , Rempe on the 4th. Just wish Lav would spread out the minutes a lil more.
“One might as well assume Panarin assisted on any goal until you hear otherwise.”
That’s a good one, Beezle
:^)
Bee
By the way, nice post game. Thank you thank you very much!
Alex,
I too live on Long Island and thus must deal with Islander dolts, some members of my own family. My kid is in 5th grade and he remains the sole Rangers fan in his class.
Islanders win a couple of games over bottom feeders to put them over 3 other teams that have been on extended losing streaks and their fanbase is now chanting “Drive for Five”, and actually puffing their chests and starting the “rags” this and that.
I don’t care what anyone says about the Penguins or Flyers, Islanders fans are insufferable.
Nedeljkovic, how did he get this good so fast? Did I miss something? Is he just adding to my Minxmares?
Will the pens ever just go away?
Crosby’s an absolute unit out there doing all he can to take his team on his back and over the finish line. Low key, I kinda don’t want a match up with them in the first round with Nedelkjovic heating up….
They have to play somebody
The first round is likely to be the easiest matchup. It get much harder after that. No one hands you the cup. You have to fight for it. If they aren’t ready to go all out it doesn’t matter who they play.
ORF
Bingo!
like i said before. i can handle losing even in 1st round. but i can not handle losing to isles and their smug fans.
I like the Pens match up as their D is weak. As much as Skidknees has been leading them, Malkinstein has also decided to start playing.
Tampa is the first round match up to avoid but can’t choose who ya play.
Gusto will def get the nod if he is healthy.
Wennberg is the second best passer on team after Bread. Please bring the smooth Swede back; perfect 3C.
Alex,
I CANNOT handle a 1st round loss.
Post Sports+ Inside The Rangers
Behind the scenes of the curious ritual of the Rangers’ on-ice entrance
This was a job for Chris Kreider, cub reporter.
Last week after a morning skate at the Rangers’ practice rink, I asked Jimmy Vesey about the order of the procession onto the ice preceding warm-ups and each period.
Then I sat down next to Jacob Trouba to discuss the same subject when Kreider moseyed over to eavesdrop. Immediately upon identifying the topic, the winger volunteered to ask Alexander Wennberg how he found his place in the line after being acquired from Seattle a day before the trade deadline.
Kreider, you should know, is the most finicky of the group on this matter, named by both Vesey and Trouba as the only Ranger “who really cares.”
“Usually you’ll find like one person who has a spot; Kreids likes to be last, so you’re not going to come in and take that spot,” Trouba said before No. 20 butted in as if he were in front of the net. “I don’t really care where I go, I usually follow Key [K’Andre Miller]. It’s more out of habit.
“If someone were to come in and cut the line to go in front of me, it wouldn’t bother me at all. It would just be the new normal. You’re a new player coming in during the year, I don’t really know how that works, to be honest.”
This is when Kreider volunteered to be Jimmy Olsen and went directly across the room to Wennberg before reporting back.
“Wenny said he just waited for Kaapo [Kakko] and went right after him,” Kreider said. “Not a big deal.”
Vesey is in his second season on his second tour of duty on Broadway. He’s graduated to the front of the line behind the starting goaltender in the procession that forms in the area just outside the locker room.
The greatest piece of collateral damage resulting from the 2013-15 reimagination and reconstruction of the Garden, by the way, was moving the Rangers’ entrance onto the ice from center ice between the benches to the corner.
Back in the day, the Blueshirts would burst onto the rink in all their glory through a double-door entrance at the center line while under the bright lights of Broadway. Now, players squeeze through a single door in the corner and take the ice in the dark, illuminated by random spotlights.
It is not the same.
It is not nearly the same.
“I’d say there are pretty much two categories — early and late,” Vesey said. “Some guys like to be toward the end. I don’t.
“How did I get that spot in the front? At the beginning of last year, [Ryan] Reaves and Fil [Chytil] were ahead of me. Now they’re no longer here, so I moved up, I guess.
“But coming to a new team during the year, I don’t know. You just kind of do it one day and becomes routine. Exactly like seats on the bus. Or the plane.”
Or as Trouba said to Kreider: “I don’t think anyone cares that much except for you being the last one.”
— Additional reporting by Chris Kreider
SUDDEN IMPACT
Just plotting this out one more time following Vesey’s dramatic impact on Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider in Sunday’s 5-2 victory over the Canadiens at the Garden after No. 26 had been elevated to the BFF Unit.
Here are the line’s numbers with different right wings alongside the Rangers’ two most senior players:
With Vesey: 47:40 ice time, 71.75 attempts per 60 minutes, 39.02 shots/60:00, 3/3 GF/GA, 3.78/3.78 GF/GA/60:00, 50.97 percent expected goal share
With Jack Roslovic: 141:16 ice time, 72.2 attempts/60:00, 33.98 shots/60:00, 8/7 GF/GA, 3.4/2.97 GF/GA/60:00, 49.48 percent expected goal share
With Artemi Panarin: 61:01 ice time, 92.41 attempts/60:00, 51.12 shots/60:00, 7/1 GF/GA, 6.88/0.98 GF/GA/60:00, 70.45 percent expected goal share
With Kaapo Kakko: 222:42 ice time, 56.04 attempts/60:00, 24.52 shots/60:00, 5/2 GF/GA, 1.35/0.54 GF/GA/60:00, 51.74 percent expected goal share
With Blake Wheeler: 288:57 ice time, 59.39 attempts/60:00, 32.81 shots/60:00, 17/12 GF/GA, 3.53/2.49 GF/GA/60:00, 46.87 percent expected goal share
MATCH GAME
There are still five teams in play to be the Blueshirts’ first-round opponent. Here’s a quick look at the recent postseason history of these potential matchups:
Islanders: We’ve been waiting for a postseason Battle of New York for 30 years after the clubs met six times in 10 springs from 1975-1984, bookended by goals from J.P. Parise and Ken Morrow. The clubs then met again in 1990 and 1994, when the four-game, first-round rout by an aggregate 22-3 score triggered the Rangers’ run to the Stanley Cup.
Red Wings: The Blueshirts have not hooked up with the Red Wings in nearly three-quarters of a century, since the 1950 final. The Rangers held a 3-2 series lead before losing a 5-4 Game 6 in which they led 4-3 after the second period and then a 4-3 double overtime Game 7 after holding 2-0 and 3-2 leads. This was the series in which the Rangers did not play a single game at home at the Garden after having been evicted in favor of performances by the circus. Five of the seven games were played at the Detroit Olympia, and the Blueshirts were designated the “home team” in Games 2 and 3, which were played in Toronto.
Penguins: The Rangers met the Penguins in the opening round two years ago, coming back from 3-1 down to win the series on Artemi Panarin’s OT goal in Game 7 at the Garden. The clubs met three straight years from 2014-16, the Blueshirts taking the first two, including the 2014 rally from 3-1 down after the passing of Martin St. Louis’ mom.
Capitals: The Blueshirts and Caps met five times from 2009-2015 (’09, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’15), with Washington taking the first two series before the Rangers won the next three, including the 2015 second-round matchup in which the team became the first in history to overcome 3-1 series deficits in consecutive years.
Flyers: The Flyers and Rangers last met in the first round of 2014, when Philadelphia pushed the Blueshirts to seven games. That represents the only meeting in 26 years between ye olde Patrick Division rivals, who hooked up seven times in nine springs from 1979-1987.
Craig – you can barely handle a November tight game but love the passion.
craig
i can. been there. just don’t lose to isles. brings back memories of early to mid 80s
SN,
Trust me, I know. I can’t quit this team lol.
Alex,
after last year’s 1st round exit, I think I might be able to quit this team lolol
As a fan, how can you possibly be accepting of a first round exit a) after this regular season run and b) now six years after “the letter”
The absolute minimum bar for me is an ECF appearance and failure to win it would still leave a bad taste. SCF or bust!
interesting article on espn on rangers playoff chances and advanced analytics
CCCP - all those supposed conversations…sound like a pile of BS to me. Who’s the ‘reporter?’
Larry Brooks, Coos?
https://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news/joel-quenneville-speaks-openly-about-kyle-beach-for-the-first-time-in-3-years
As Ranger fans we are so used to eventual failure that we over analyze the outcome of ever possible opponent. I have been guilty of this for sure. For the Ranger to reach the summit and raise the prize they will have to beat the best of the best to get there. Opponents be damned, we want the cup! The Minx has Spoken.
I hope our boys in blue understand how important the next 3 games are. Overly physical should be th RX for the rest of the season. There are no easy games or shifts until September. Lgr
Off topic but perhaps of interest to some. One of the photos I took yesterday of the great eclipse. Giving link rather than embedding here as it might be too big
Eclipse Photo from VT-2024
Boo hoo
NJD announce Jack Hughes is out for the rest of the season and will have shoulder surgery on Wednesday. He is expected to be ready for next season
that’s crazy regarding Hughes.
too bad for them.
Beez – that photograph is absolutely gorgeous!
I took some BS ones with my iPhone and binoculars from eastern Ny (90% occlusion).
I saved yours!
Brooks playing sophomoric grabass with players makes him an unreliable critic IMO.
As MSNBC host said about eclipse …that proves global warming. Good grief the ignoramuses who buzz in our ears!!
Marjorie Taylor Greene said the eclipse and earthquake are signs from G-d, and a liberal Democrat politician also said the earthquake is a sign of global warming.
Can’t make this stuff up!
oh yeah — NO politics!! 😂
this game has me nervous tonight – I’m not going to lie.
Kreider-Zibanejad-Roslovic Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière Cuylle-Wennberg-Kakko Goodrow-Brodzinski-Vesey Lindgren-Fox Miller-Trouba Gustafsson-Schneider Shesterkin Quick
Admiral I have a few others, when they are available I’ll link
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