Game 2, Eastern Conference Quarter Finals
Rangers lead series 1-0
Rangers at Canadiens -7:00 PM MSG, USA, 98.7 FM. Online streaming is available on nbcsportss.com or the NBC Sports app.
After leaving victorious on Wednesday night, the Rangers return to the Bell Centre for game 2 of the first round. The forwards will have to do a better job scoring on Carey Price or else we will have to rely on Big Game Glass to carry the offense. And we still need to see if Lundqvist is back or whether he just gave his final vintage performance.
Thank you to E3 for putting up a clean slate while I was at the children’s museum with the family. Clearly, this is a HAV.
Tonight’s probable lineup for the Rangers, via Steve Zipay (@stevezipay):
Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Mats Zuccarello
Jimmy Vesey-Mika Zibanejad-Rick Nash
Michael Grabner-Kevin Hayes-JT Miller
Tanner Glass-Oscar Lindberg-Jesper Fast
DEFENSE
Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi
Marc Staal-Nick Holden
Brady Skjei-Brendan Smith
The big news of course is that Kevin Klein and Pavel Buchnevich remain healthy scratches in favor of trade-deadline acquisition Brendan Smith and game 1 hero Tanner Glass, respectively. Smith started slowly but finished strongly. Glass, well, there isn’t much more that can be said about him from game 1. Let’s hope the rest of the team plays more like him. Did I really just say that? Henrik Lundqvist obviously gets the start. Here’s hoping he can maintain his vintage form.
No changes for the Canadiens. They will try again to be the first Canadian team to win a playoff game in nearly two years, as this year’s teams went 0-5 in game 1. One thing to pay attention to are the defensive matchups. Weber had almost a 75% 5 on 5 corsi, while the Beaulieu-Nesterov pairing had only a 35.1%.
The Rangers are something like 2-13 since 2012 when they have a chance to take a two game series lead, so I fully expect this to come back to MSG at 1-1, as would Carp, who would also expect 2-2 and probably 3-3.
I just hope tonight’s game is as entertaining as Wednesday night’s. The teams were credited with almost 100 combined hits, which is almost like Matt Martin being tracked by the Islanders. I saw somewhere that his hit total dropped by almost 100 this year. Color me unsurprised.
Don’t forget to tell everyone you know and to follow me on Twitter @rangersreport2. And don’t forget to vote!
[polldaddy poll=”9569860″]
907 responses to “Rangers at Canadiens…It’s Go Time!”
Ev
Sorry to hear, condolences bro
Just finished the dvr’d game. I thought the rangers played well for a period and a half, then stopped going to the front of the net, then went into the prevent D, then AV decided to put the worst d pair (staal/Holden) on the ice at the end of the game. Bad choice by the coach but it’s still anyone’s game. I thought mtl was the better team in OT but we still had a shot….all z pack had to do was win a battle.
–
I thought hank was great.
–
I voted smiff, shampoo boy, and bgg…in no particular order
–
Later wankers and LGR!!
903 thoughts! …. and 902 of them are dirty.
Carp nails it, as usual.
Rangers were more than adequate defensively, save for some personal breakdowns. HOLDEN comes to mind.
But the refusal to play in the offensive zone, to turn around the montreal defenders is what bit the Rangers in the butt. You can’t throw 70 or 80 hits in a game, while absorbing another 65, and play on your heels nursing a one goal lead for 25 minutes.
It’s a tough tough loss, but they deserve it and hopefully will learn from it.
I’ve got a migraine from that game last night. Awesome
Good morning, boneheads!
What happened last night is a playoffs hockey. Montreal did what they had to do, otherwise this series would be pretty much over.
The Rangers showed again that they can play this type of hockey- physical, tight, defensive style. A lot of ifs have been answered, including goaltending, defensive structure and its specific players, and team’s physicality. Now they have to add what brought them here in the first place-skill and speed. I like their chances. LGR.
NEW POST