For the fourth straight game at Madison Square Garden, the New York Rangers have lost, this time at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens.
- New York Rangers 1 (41-22-2, 84 pts)
- Montreal Canadiens 4 (37-21-8, 82 pts)
- NHL, East, Final, Box Score
- Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
The trend of the New York Rangers not having the ability to handle the better teams in the Eastern Conference is a reality nobody can ignore. The Blueshirts have now lost four straight home games. The last three have come via blowout fashion.
Worst of all, all three teams represent the big boys of the East: Washington Capitals, Columbus Blue Jackets and, now, the Montreal Canadiens twice after the 4-1 drubbing on Saturday night in Manhattan.
The Habs came out like every team does against this group. They were aggressive and attacked the Rangers physically (something this soft team has trouble handling).
Shea Weber opened the scoring at the 12:51 mark of the first period:
Then, in the second period, Artturi Lehkonen and Andrew Shaw put the game out of reach by each putting one past Henrik Lundqvist:
Chris Kreider added his 24th of the season early in the third that provided a glimpse spot of hope, but it wasn’t enough. Carey Price was outstanding all night (26-27), but simply wasn’t tested enough. Lundqvist, who did allow four games, wasn’t terrible (31-35). He made a few huge saves at certain points yet also allowed a couple of questionable ones.
The Rangers have now lost five of their last eight games. They remain 14 points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the first wild-card spot and 13 ahead of the New York Islanders (who currently hold down the second spot).
Next up will be sunny Florida as they’ll take on the Tampa Bay Lightning down south on Monday night.
Rangers fall to Canadiens 4-1. Blueshirts back at it Monday in Tampa. pic.twitter.com/YZQhRoll0G
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 5, 2017