The mark of a great hockey team is beating the inferior teams that they are supposed to beat. The New York Rangers just might be a great hockey team after all.
New York won their third straight game Thursday night in a 4-1 blowout win over the Montreal Canadiens. The Rangers are now 4-1-1 in their last six games and have 12 points in their last 14 contests.
After a first period with just 10 combined shots between the two teams, New York would strike three times in the second period. It’s the second straight time the Rangers have scored three goals in a period after their three-goal third period pulled away from Carolina on Tuesday.
Chris Kreider forced a turnover shorthanded and scored his team-tying 18th goal of the season to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Braden Schneider and Filip Chytil would later extend the Blueshirts’ lead and was more than enough for Jaroslav Halak to pick up his fourth win of the season.
Halak saved 17 of 18 shots faced. While he did give up a late goal to Joel Armi late in the third period, New York was still able to keep their three-goal advantage when Chytil later nailed an empty-net shot for the 4-1 win.
The win moves the Rangers to 10 games over .500 for the first time this season and just a point behind New Jersey for the second seed in the Metro division. New York will head to Jersey to take on those same Devils Saturday afternoon.
Game Notes
- Gustav Rydahl was called up from Hartford Thursday evening but did not play in the Rangers’ win. Rydahl replaced Johnny Brodzinski whose wife went into labor this afternoon.
- Igor Shesterkin did not play against Montreal but ended up getting in the news. Shesterkin was named to his first All-star game Thursday evening as the lone representative for the Rangers.
- Kreider’s 18th goal of the season didn’t just move him into a tie with Mika Zibanejad for the top goal-scorer in New York. The 31-year-old forward surpassed Steve Vickers for the eighth most goals in Rangers history (247).
