In one of the more exciting Rangers games this season, the Blueshirts come out on top against Montreal, by a score of 3-2. This game had a little bit of everything, good pace, perfect passing plays, fights, physicality, drama, anything you can ask for. It may have been a closer than desired game as far as the score was, but the Rangers finished the job and got the win which is all that matters. More significantly, they got production from the two guys they’re really going to need to step up in the absence of Sammy Blais.
Kaapo Kakko, who began heating up with his two point game against New Jersey over the weekend, found the back of the net again for his third point in two games. Artemi Panarin fed Kakko perfectly in the slot and had plenty of room to put it away. As the lone goal toward the end of the first period, the Canadiens came out with some fire and it was Christian Dvorak scoring on a wrist shot for his second of the season to tie the game up at one. The tie wouldn’t last long as, you guessed it, Chris Kreider, who continues to play out of his mind, gave a recently fallen Mika Zibanejad the puck who returned a perfect pass to him to put it away at the back door.
The moment Rangers fans have been waiting for since completing that trade with Vegas finally happened when Ryan Reaves delivered a big hit to Montreal’s Michael Pezzetta. Pezzetta decided to stand up for himself and challenge Reaves to a fight, a challenge I’m sure he quickly regretted. Like the seasoned vet of an enforcer Reaves is, he more or less dominated the young Canadiens forward and was quick to get the crowd going following the battle. Kreider’s goal would come shortly after the fight making it safe to assume the fight got the boys, as well as the crowd going.
To the third we go and just two minutes in, all the hard work and patience pays off with Julien Gauthier finally finding the back of the net. I mentioned earlier how the Rangers would need more from their wingers to fill the void of Sammy Blais and they got just that from the two players they needed it the most from in Kaapo Kakko and Julien Gauthier. It wasn’t even 30 seconds later until Josh Anderson scored off a pass from Christian Dvorak to cut the lead in half yet again.
As time dwindled down, Montreal would make a push and attempt to pull Cayden Primeau, who for the most part, played a pretty solid game. Brendan Gallagher, who is supposed to be a leader for this team, ruined any and all momentum when he got tangled up with Barclay Goodrow and delivered a sucker punch to his face. There must’ve been some unsettled drama left over from the Stanley Cup Final between the two as the hit was completely unnecessary and cost Montreal any chance at a comeback. Gallagher received a $2,500 fine for the punch this morning.
Sparks flew again at the final buzzer, Jacob Trouba got after it with Josh Anderson certainly making for the next match up between these two teams to be an exciting one. The Rangers will head to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs on Thursday night where they will look to extend their winning streak to five. The team is starting to click and play more complete hockey on a more consistent basis. Unfortunately, as the Rangers keep winning the Hurricanes and Capitals seem to keep winning as well. With that in mind, each game continues to hold importance. The Rangers beat the Leafs earlier this season and will look to come out strong against them again and keep the wins coming.
Chris Feldman
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