The New York Rangers (46-25-4) defeated the Los Angeles Kings (35-32-7) by the score of 3-0. For a box score, click here.
3 Stars
1st Star – Rangers not blowing a 2-goal lead in LA for once.
2nd Star – Darryl Sutter for not starting Ben Bishop who normally owns the Rangers.
3rd Star – Girardi not doing this in his return to the Rangers lineup in LA…
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX-FxOb1Rfk&w=560&h=315]Post Game Cocktail Recommendation
Ok, not really, but it’s nice to get a win in Los Angeles.
Gif of the Game
Talk about taking one for the team. Literally seconds after this happens to the Buchnevich…
…the Rangers score on the ensuing power play to take a two-goal lead.
Raanta Rules
Maybe AV should give Lundqvist a couple of more games off to get healthy. Goodness Raanta was stellar tonight. And more importantly, he didn’t blow a two-goal lead the way Lundqvist normally does in LA…
Here’s my tweet the day before Lundqvist went down with his hip injury…
I tell u what, if Lundqvist went down with an injury, Id still feel 100% confident going forward. The reason: Raanta https://t.co/yC8vVzEIZq
— Kevin DeLury (@kevindelury) March 7, 2017
Can you say prophetic?
Grabner Leafs Flashback
The criticism of Michael Grabner in Toronto was his inability to finish. While that hasn’t been the case so far in New York, he had a bit of a Maple Leafs flashback tonight…
DeLury Reverse Mush Part VIII
In the eighth installment of the DeLury Reverse Mush (Part I, Part II, Part III, Parts IV & V, Part VI, Part VIII), I give you the double reverse mush as a mere minutes after I sent out these tweets…
[protected-iframe id=”ae86d1334f0bfa99995c1415f904264d-114320562-46273279″ info=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” class=”twitter-tweet”] [protected-iframe id=”d1649983357c13469e125ca4be710766-114320562-46273279″ info=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” class=”twitter-tweet”]Stepen did this…
[protected-iframe id=”54fa3abaa599291688281447f8f48ee3-114320562-46273279″ info=”https://www.nhl.com/rangers/video/embed/stepan-opens-the-scoring/t-277443728/c-50824603?autostart=false” width=”540″ height=”360″]Penalty Kill Revival
Dan Girardi returns and the Rangers are perfect on the penalty kill after eight straight games of giving up a power play goal. Coincidence? I think not.
Mini Recap
I get PTSD every time the Rangers play in Los Angeles.
— Kevin DeLury (@kevindelury) March 26, 2017
After the first period this game was all Los Angeles (out shot attempted the Rangers 51-22 in final two periods). Fortunately for the Blueshirts they had Prince Raanta in goal tonight as well as a rejuvenated penalty kill.
This was the game AV should have dressed Glass so he could beat the shit out of Alec Martinez.
Despite Derek Stepan having God awful luck scoring this season he hit the 50 point plateau for the fifth time in his seven year career. How rare is that?
Over the last 25 seasons, the only Rangers who have posted more 50-point seasons than Stepan are Leetch (8), Messier (7), and Graves (6). https://t.co/dgapsnPZYr
— NY Rangers PR (@NYR_PR) March 26, 2017
Regardless of Grabner’s inability to finish, the Miller-Hayes-Grabner reunion was almost as successful as…
Just 16 minutes of ice time for Brendan Smith which was the lowest for any defensemen despite being just one of two players on the entire team with positive possession numbers (60% 5-on-5 CF%). Skjei, not shockingly, was the other.
Meanwhile, McDonagh had a team high 24:55. Might be smart to get the captain some rest in the final seven games to keep him fresh for the playoffs.
With the Rangers continuing to dominate on the road, I might not be too concerned if they end up starting the playoffs in their House of Horrors in Montreal. Ok, I lied, I’m still nervous.
Power play goals in 6 of their last 8 games. Haven’t seen power play success like this since Brian Leetch was manning the point.
Two solid performances against the Devils and Islanders lead to losses, while being outplayed by the Kings leads to a win. Hockey.
Magic number down to just 2, so Rangers can clinch playoff spot in Anaheim on Sunday night.
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