The Montreal Canadiens break their losing streak and extend the Rangers' with an active third period and big night from Jeff Petry. While you don't love to see the Blueshirts lose three in a row in the final week of regular season, it's pretty clear how little these games mean. The Rangers finally went all in with the bubble wrap, giving all of Artemi Panarin, Andrew Copp, Ryan Lindgren, Adam Fox, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider the night off. Speaking of Kreider, another significant night for the Rangers leader despite not playing as he was presented with the first ever, Rod Gilbert, Mr. Ranger Award.
This award introduced last night will be given annually to the player ""who best honors Rod's legacy by exemplifying leadership qualities both on and off the ice and making a significant humanitarian contribution to his community." A no brainer to give this one to Kreider who absolutely carries qualities of Rod in his role as a leader with this New York Rangers team. Not only does Kreider lead them on the ice but his off ice charitable contributions and connections he makes with fans truly makes him deserving of this award.
What a week it's been for Kreider, being nominated for the Bill Masterton Trophy on Monday, winning his first Steven McDonald Award Tuesday and then the first ever Mr. Rangers Award on Wednesday. Almost like they should.. CAP the week off by finally naming him Captain... As for the rest of the night, Kreider would pretty much be the main highlight in a rather mundane outing. K'Andre Miller by far had the most impressive night despite staying off the scoresheet. He took charge of the power play, was all over the ice, looking like the fastest skater out there by far.
After a good paced first period, Ryan Poehling got the Canadiens on the board with a quick shot all alone back door. Libor Hajek and Zac Jones who were on the ice for the goal, both got caught on the same side of the ice, leaving Poehling all alone to give his team a one goal lead to take into the second period. The Rangers were somewhat quick to get back in it as Ryan Reaves let a shot go that deflected in past Sam Montembeault. The score would lock at 1-1 for the rest of the period until the final ten seconds. Just as Joe Michelleti was talking about how Jeff Petry was on a bit of a drought, he let a shot go over Georgiev's shoulder.
To the third we go and the Rangers once again found themselves playing catchup. Four minutes in Frank Vatrano once again showcased how great of a shot he has, beating Montembeault on the glove side, to tie the game up at two. About eight minutes later, Mike Hoffman regained the lead for Montreal on a wrist shot Georgiev probably could've had but thankfully, Ryan Strome would tie the game up while shorthanded a few minutes later.
With 31 seconds to go, it was Jeff Petry once again beating Alexandar Georgiev on another shot he probably should have been able to come up with a save. Certainly not the best showing on his end but at the end of the day, these games truly don't matter as this team is just gearing up for playoffs. The Rangers are back at it for their final game of the regular season Friday Night as they host the team they started the season with, the Washington Capitals. This game, while still mostly meaningless can have huge implications for postseason matchups as the Capitals could take third place from Pittsburgh and become the team that takes on the Rangers in the first round of the playoffs.
With a game in hand, the Capitals play the Islanders tonight which can bump them ahead of the Penguins. Pittsburgh will play their final game of the season as well on Friday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. If both teams win, the Rangers will have to beat the Capitals if they would rather play Pittsburgh. However, if Pittsburgh loses and Washington wins either tonight or Friday against the Rangers, we'll be seeing them in round one regardless. If Washington wins out, they will take third place whether or not Pittsburgh wins their final game so in a sense, the Rangers have some control in who they will potentially play. It'll be interesting to see if Gallant continues to rest his star players or goes with a full line up to push the Capitals off to a first round series with Florida.
Chris Feldman
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