The Kids Are Alright Tour Continues….
In a must win game for the Panthers, the NY Rangers, led
by Chytil, Kaako and LaFreniere, just might have put the final nail in the coffin for the Panthers and their playoff hopes. The Rangers, meanwhile, lowered their own
magic number to 2 points. Win and they are officially in.
It seems like just a formality, but at the same time, the
Metro division is all still up for grabs. With 2 weeks to go
in the regular season, 6 points separate the Hurricanes
and the Rangers, with the Devils sandwiched in between.
It will be interesting to see if any of the 3 teams make a
run at winning the division, while trying to keep their
respective teams rested and ready for the playoffs. Time
will tell…..
The game itself had the Panthers come out strong, while the Rangers forgot there was a game! The 1st period was
a bit of a disaster. Florida scored twice and outshot the
thew Rangers 13-3. The Rangers power play units came
out flat and went 0-2 and just could not get any offense
going. On the good side the Rangers penalty unit
continued to be Road Killers, keeping Matthew Tkachuk
and crew off the score sheets all night. The P.K unit has
dominated lately and looks primed and ready every
night.
During the 2nd period, the NYR got their legs back and led
by the Kids, scored the 1st Ranger goal on a give and go
from Chytil to Laf back to Chytil, with Kaako cleaning up
the loose puck, sending it to the back of the net to even it up at 1. It seems that during every game, that line
gains confidence by the shift. The way they feed off each
other and know where each is going to be is awesome to
watch. With that, the whole squad gets energized and
stepped up their own play. Jaro made some key saves to
keep the game close, the defense core stepped up,
shutting down the Panthers attack, allowing the Rangers
to tie the game when LaFreniere scored off a farm to table feed from Jacob Trouba. LaFreniere did his best Patrick Kane imitation with his stickhandling and juked Samsonov to even the score at 2.
So, we’ve got Kaako
with 1 and LaFreniere with 1. There’s a theme here.
Speaking of Patty Kane, he scored his 450th career goal
on a weird sequence where he shot/passed the puck
toward a cutting Artemi Panarin and it deflected off a
defenseman’s stick over Samsonov’s shoulder to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead. It was such a lucky bounce that had
Kane, Trocheck and Panarin laughing. Great players
score from anywhere! It also broke a tie with longtime
defenseman Phil Housley for 2nd place All-Time among
U.S.A scorers, trailing only the phenomenal, Mike
Modano. The Rangers had their 1st lead of the game, in
the 3rd period, and they did not stop there.
Here comes
those darn Kids again! This time, as if he was missing out on all the fun, it was Filip Chytil, who scored after a
bouncing puck got by the Panthers D-man and Chytil,
whose been flying all over the ice recently, scooped it up
and buried a forehand past Samsonov for his 21st of the
season.
It completed the Hat Trick for the Kid Line, as
each now had scored. It also gave the Rangers a 4-2
lead, that evaporated to 4-3 a few minutes later on a
goal by Barkov. Thankfully, Halak made a huge save at
the end and Florida defenseman Montour made a mental error with 7 seconds on the clock while in the Rangers
zone with the goalie pulled. Montour did not realize the
time left on the game clock and instead of shooting,
dumped the puck in the corner, where the Rangers
hopped on it and ran the clock out. Vincent Trocheck,
ever the agitator, let Montour know about it and had a
laugh at the Panthers expense.
Takeaways- Matthew Tkachuk, whose having an
outstanding year, was completely shut down by the
Rangers. His name was barely mentioned, maybe that
accidental clip between the legs by Trouba, or was it just
a great job by Mika and crew?
Another game without Ryan Lindgren. They need him for
the playoffs, let him get healed and ready. Harpur and
Mikkola are handling their business, bonus, Rangers are
winning!
The Kid Line getting better and better is going to give any
team the Rangers play trouble in the playoffs. Rolling 3
scoring lines and a perfectly built 4th line to go with a
goalie like Igor Shesterkin, wins Stanley Cups.
Next up…..Tuesday vs Columbus at the Garden. The Blue Jackets have had a terrible season. Injuries to top players like Werenski and Laine don’t help. They still have Jersey-bred Johnny Gaudrea, but he has had an
adjustment in Ohio. He’s still putting up a point per
game, but the East is much different from the open ice
play in the Western Conference, its always been more physical. He will adjust and with their odds of getting
wunderkind Connor Bedard growing by each loss, they
will be better next year. Look for a mashing by the
Rangers.
