There are no such things as style points in professional sports. The New York Rangers have learned that lesson quite well in recent weeks.
After a four-day layover in between games, the Rangers came out sloppy but found a way to edge out a 4-3 shootout win over the Montreal Canadiens Thursday night north of the border.
And they received plenty of help from key players when it mattered most.
After an abysmal 1-7 stretch on the powerplay since the Patrick Kane deal, Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant switched up the lines and saw immediate improvement. Alexis Lafreniere scored with the man advantage in the first period to tie the score. In typical Rangers fashion though, the momentum was shortlived thanks to Alex Belzile’s fourth goal of the year past Igor Shesterkin.
As they’ve done all season though, New York battled back living up to their “No Quit in New York” slogan. First, it was Jacob Trouba tying the game early in the second period. Josh Anderson would take the lead for Montreal late in the second, but Patrick Kane would net his first goal as a member of the Rangers on a powerplay to keep the score tied at two.
Both goaltenders would stand strong in the third period and extra frame leading to a shootout.
From there, Mika Zibanejad supplied the lone shootout goal while Shesterkin made the finishing touches on the Rangers’ 36th win of the season, and a key two points in the race for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The victory ends a two-game slide for the Blueshirts, albeit with 17 giveaways during the contest: two of which resulted in goals by the Canadiens.
At 36-19-9, the Rangers stay in third place in the Metro division and will be back on the ice Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres.
Game Notes
- Kane may have tallied two points, but his linemate, Artemi Panarin notched three assists. The totals put Panarin over 70 points on the season, tying Wayne Gretzky and Peter Stastny as the only undrafted players to record seven 70-point seasons in their first eight seasons.
- The victory was New York’s 18th comeback win of the season, tied for fourth in the NHL. It was also the third time this year that the Blueshirts trailed three separate times in the game.
- Alexis Lafreniere scored in front of his home Montreal crowd, but his recent stretch on the powerplay has certainly turned heads. The former first-overall pick has tallied goals in four of his last five games and three in his last two.
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