As the Rangers tend to do on ceremonious nights such as jersey retirements and award presentations, they fell short to the Hurricanes, locking them into second place in the Metro Division. They will play either the Washington Capitals or Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs as many have anticipated. Prior to last nights action, the Rangers held the presentation of the annual Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award in a fashion that as always was classy and quite the tear jerker. Steven's son Conor would announce the 2021-22 recipient of the award, lifetime Ranger, [Alternate] Captain, Chris Kreider.
A tremendous, completely well deserving honor that Kreider fully understands the significance off. You could see the emotion coming from Kreider in the moment he received the award and certainly saw it in his interview with Dave Maloney after the first period where he was very clearly struggling to keep it together. From a fan standpoint, an organizational standpoint and a teammate standpoint, you have to appreciate the vulnerability of your leader in that moment. It goes to show just how much being a New York Ranger means to him and that he proudly represents that jersey day in and day out on and off the ice. As the team gears up for their first playoff run in five years, you have to revisit the captaincy discussion as Kreider rightfully deserves that C and it's long overdue.
As for the game itself, there really wasn't much to care about and frankly, everything went out the window when Andrew Copp and Artemi Panarin were not on the bench for the second period. Thankfully, Gallant noted in post game that they could have played, however he just wanted to be cautious. Nevertheless, I think this was a tough wake up call for the coaching staff as they realize the importance of resting their core guys and not risking injuries in these final, meaningless game. Gallant also mentioned post game that between "guys being banged up and first place being out of reach, they will change how they managed the final two games" [per Vince Mercogliano, USA Today]. This will undoubtedly make for an interesting lineup in these final two games especially when you consider the fact that Hartford's season is over and the team can make an unlimited amount of call-ups.
To quickly debrief last night's outing, after a scoreless period and three failed power play opportunities for the Rangers, Vincent Trochcek and Jordan Martinook got Carolina on the board around the halfway point of the game. With about three minutes to go, Chris Kreider found the back of the net to bring the Rangers within one. Quite the way to celebrate winning the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award by tying the guy (Adam Graves) who has won the award more than any Ranger for second most single-season goals in franchise history. Teuvo Teravainen would sneak a wrist shot through Shesterkin to make it 3-1 heading into the third as Carolina out shot the Rangers 29-23 in a game that was kind of getting out of hand with some questionable officiating or lack thereof.
To the third we went and the Hurricanes wasted no time getting back to it as Sebastian Aho buried one 32 seconds in, At this point, you just wanted the Rangers to get to center ice, dump it and get to the buzzer as soon as possible. However, with about seven minutes left, Jacob Trouba let a slap shot go that took a redirect of a Hurricanes player to bring the Rangers within two. Trouba's 11th of the season now gives him a career high on the year as he has played such a significant role on the Rangers back end. The Rangers pulled Shesterkin with plenty of time left but were struggling to generate strong offense. Alexis Lafreniere was able to tuck one in with 62 seconds left but it wouldn't be enough to get the Rangers back in it as they would fall short by the score of 4-3.
As I mentioned at the top, it's hard to really worry much about these final games aside from keeping everyone healthy. Hearing Panarin and Copp left the game early was enough to send Rangers fans into a bit of a panic mode but thankfully they seem to be fine and Gallant made the right decision by sending them off early. Love to see Kreider tying Adam Graves on the all time list, especially on the night he won the Extra Effort Award and with that, the Rangers are right back at it to host the Montreal Canadiens.
NYR Game Day vs. Montreal Canadiens 4/27/2022
The Blueshirts will host the Montreal Canadiens in game 81 of 82, which has the potential to be the most meaningless game of the entire season. On top of the Rangers being locked into second place in the Metro less than a week out from playoffs, they are going into their final back to back of the season. Anybody and everybody that could use a rest, should get a rest. Not only do the Rangers have plenty of guys in the press box waiting to get back out there, they have unlimited call-ups and the Hartford Wolf Pack's season is done. Don't be surprised if the Rangers add a bunch of those guys to their roster today as they will look to rest their core.
Ty Ronning, Justin Richards, Tim Gettinger, Anthony Greco, Nick Merkley, Lauri Pajuniemi, Jared Tinordi, Zac Jones, Matthew Robertson and Keith Kinkaid are all names that should join the Rangers this afternoon and potentially dress against the Candiends tonights. Nils Lundkvist has been out for some time with an injury so while they could opt to add him to the roster as a formality, I wouldn't expect to see him again until camp next season. For tonight's lineup? Gallant should go all in with it:
Kreider - Brodzinski - Kakko
Hunt - Rooney - Reaves
Gettinger - McKegg - Gauthier
Greco - Richards or Merkley - Pajuniemi
Hajek - Braun
Jones - Tinordi
Robertson - Nemeth
Keep Kreider in there, give him a shot to catch Jagr but everyone else? Rent out a private room in some fancy restaurant and let them celebrate the year they've had. Kaapo Kakko, who skated yesterday is certainly more likely to get back in there tonight now as the stakes for this game will be a bit low. If the Rangers want to keep Chytil in there I'd love to see a Kreider-Chytil-Kakko line just for laughs and giggles. Alexandar Georgiev will get the start in net as Shesterkin should be put in bubble wrap until next week. Let him and Panarin have all the playdates with their dogs, spend time with their significant others, paint by numbers, I don't care. Let. Them. Rest.
As for Montreal, the season has been pretty disastrous after going to the Stanley Cup Final last season which feels like an absolute lifetime ago. They are currently on a nine game losing streak, only winning one against New Jersey in their last ten, only two in the month of April. At this point, they're playing for pride and the future so this game will likely mean a lot more to them. I would never suggest throwing games away but if we let them have this one it's not the worst thing in the world. It'll be a nice little reunion for Canadiens interim Head Coach, former Ranger Marty St. Louis who will coach his first game at the World's Most Famous Arena.
Assuming the Rangers core gets a well deserved rest in this final stretch, fans shouldn't have much to be concerned with aside from how the battle for third in the Metro turns out between Pittsburgh and Washington. Both teams lost last night as Washington remains a point behind Pittsburgh with a game in hand. It very well could come down to the Rangers final game of the season against the Caps but either way, the priority needs to be keeping the team healthy. Don't worry about who were going to face, just trust in this team and gear up for what will certainly be an emotional roller coaster we haven't boarded in quite some time!
Chris Feldman
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