The Rangers Stink in Montreal
Blueshirts Give Canadiens 2 Points North of the Border
MONTREAL—It’s Hockey Night in Canada and the Rangers traveled across the border to visit the Montreal Canadiens in a classic “original 6” matchup. From a Montreal fans perspective, this game had it all. It had 6 total goals, it had great saves on both ends and it had the Canadiens getting 2 points for the win.
From the Rangers perspective, this was one of the worst performances of the season, as the blueshirts went down three goals before they woke up and decided to play a hockey game.
Panarin and Trocheck both got points, as they kept their scoring streaks alive, but the overall team defense was bad, the puck possession was bad, the line changes were bad and the defensive zone play was bad. Hopefully this is the last game the Rangers play in 2024, where they allow a much weaker team to skate with them for 60 minutes.
1st Period Period Summary
The game did not start well for the Rangers, as they were only able to get one shot on net through the first 3 minutes. With 14:56 on the clock, Nick Suzuki hits Erik Gustafsson before the puck finds its way over to Artemi Panarin who was then able to get a shot on net.
As the two teams then began to turn the puck over, the Canadiens were able to start controlling the game. Montreal started with going to the body. First, Micheal Pezzetta hit Nick Bonino and then he turned around and hit Brennan Othmann. Following those two checks, Jayden Struble went after Jonny Brodzinski, as Montreal took possession of the puck.
After the Canadiens skated the puck up the ice, Jonathan Quick needed to come up big with a save off Jordan Harris’ shot.
At that point, it seemed the Rangers might be a step slower on the ice. And that’s when Montreal pinned the Rangers in their own zone. The Canadiens blocked several attempts by the blueshirts to clear the zone and kept the puck in deep.
But the Rangers were able to escape the early pressure and then with 12:37 left in the period, Kaiden Guhle was called for a tripping penalty against Mika Zibanejad, which gave the Rangers their first power play chance.
Despite New York getting 5 shots on net, they were unable to get any pucks past Sam Montembeault on the man advantage. And once the Canadiens killed off the penalty, they had gained the momentum back.
And that’s when Gallagher scored his 6th goal of the season to take the 1-0 lead.
On the goal, David Savard takes a shot from the right face off circle that Quick saves and the puck rebounds high into the slot, where Jake Evans swings and misses on the bouncing puck. Then Vincent Trocheck gets the loose puck and tries to clear the zone, but the puck is kept in at the blue line.
So with 8:23 left in the period, Evans has the puck at the left point, he then passes to Brendan Gallagher in the slot, who takes the hard wrist shot that beat Quick up over the glove.
Once Montreal scored, the only thing the Rangers wanted to do was just get out of the period down 1-0 on the road. Even though New York outshot Montreal 14-7 in shots, all the momentum at this point in the game was tilting to the Canadiens.
End of 1st Period: Rangers 0, Canadiens 1
2nd Period Summary
If the Rangers were going to win this game, they needed to wake up fast, as the Canadiens seemed faster to the puck and winning all the board battles. But New York did not come out of the lockerroom in the right headspace.
With only a minute and nine seconds expired, the Canadiens scored their second goal of the game. This time, Barclay Goodrow was unable to clear the puck, as it got blocked by Sean Monahan at the blue line.
That’s when the puck got picked up by Jesse Ylonen at the right faceoff dot. The Rangers never found their defensive assignments, as Ylonen passed into the high slot where Monahan gathered the puck and shot a quick snap shot on net that went off of Quick’s glove and bounced into the net. It was Monahan’s 10th of the season and now New York was down 2-0 in the game.
But don’t look now—because Montreal wasn’t done.
Just a minute and 30 seconds later, Joel Armia would give Montreal a 3-0 lead. Montreal had worked the puck around the boards from right to left. That’s where Stephens picked it up toward the far corner boards and as Armia slid down from the point, none of the Rangers players picked him up. That’s when Stephens hit Armia with a pass and from about 12 feet out, he beat Quick through the 5-hole.
We’ve seen the Rangers come back 12 times so far this season—and if the blueshirs were going to win this game, it would need to be number 13.
On the very next shift after second goal, the Rangers finally began exerting some pressure on Montreal. So with 14:37 on the clock, New York had a series of three consecutive shifts of sustained pressure.
And during the sustained pressure, Alexis Lafreniere had a good opportunity to score and then Panarin had his own good scoring chance. But the story of this game was the play of Montreal goaltender Sam Montembeault, who finished the game with 45 saves.
But the Rangers weren’t able to keep the pressure on for long, as Chris Kreider got called for a hooking penalty on Ylonen in the offensive zone. So with 12:22 left in the middle period, that gave the Canadiens their first power play chance of the game.
The Rangers were able to kill off the first minute of the man advantage, but then Juraj Slafkovsky had a golden opportunity to put this game away and hammer the final nail in the coffin, but Quick was somehow able to rob him of a goal. So with 11:01 still on the clock, the blueshirts were able to kill off the final minute of the penalty and regain some of the momentum in the game.
And then finally with 9:32 on the clock, the blueshirts were able to break through the Montembeault wall. This time, the Rangers sent the puck around the boards and behind the net by Lafreniere where Erik Gustafsson found it at the right point.
Gustafsson then skated from the far right wing boards toward the center of the blue line and let a snap shot go that was deflected in front by Vincent Trocheck. And that point it looked like the Rangers had a little life left.
From that moment on, New York was playing with far more energy than the first period and a half. With 6:18 left in the period, David Savard sacrificed his body to lay out and block a shot from Adam Fox that looked like it might be going right into the net.
The added pressure caused the Canadiens to ice the puck. So with 5:44 left in the period, Vincent Trocheck won the faceoff, but the Rangers are unable to get a shot on net, but Montreal is called for a second icing call.
So now with 5:33 left in the period, Trocheck and Mitchell Stephens square off again. This time Stephens wins the faceoff, but Trocheck powers through Stephens to find the loose puck behind him and quickly taps the puck over to Artemi Panarin who fires a shot that beats Montembeault underneath the pads.
It was Panarin’s 25th goal of the season and gave Trocheck his 2nd point of the game. And that cut the Montreal lead to 3-2.
And the Rangers were not done with the pressure. New York took a total of 20 shots on net in the 2nd period. One of those shots came with only 4:09 left in the period, when Montmebeault needed to stop another hard shot from Panarin, who was aiming directly for the top corner. Somehow Montembeault was able to snare the puck right out of mid-air.
The intense pressure led to another Montreal penalty. So with 2:58 on the clock, Suzuki got called for a high sticking penalty.
On the power, Mika Zibanejad took one of his patented one-timers that ended up clanging right off the post. The Rangers had come inches away from tying the game up.
Thankfully, Montreal was able to kill off the rest of the penalty and escape the lockerroom with a 1 goal lead.
Through two periods of play, the Rangers had recorded 35 total shots on net.
End of 2nd Period: Rangers 2, Canadiens 3
3rd Period Summary
Through the first two periods, both teams did not play well defensively, so to start the 3rd period game play was much more conservative.
But clearly the momentum had shifted in the game. Montreal had jumped out to a solid three goal lead, but now the Rangers were on the hunt for a comeback. And with 10:30 left in the game, Adam Fox was able to tie it all up with his 4th goal of the season.
On the goal, Jimmy Vesey got control of the puck in the near corner and then skated back up toward the blue line. As he reached the mid-way point along the boards, he passed to Fox who was standing right inside the point and he let a slap shot go from long range—that somehow found its way through a screen in front and reached the back of the net.
The Rangers had clawed their way back into this game.
But Montreal wasn’t about to give up. And a few minutes later, Jake Evans took the hardest shot of the game, which beat Quick, but then banged right off the post. The entire Canadiens crowd clammored, “ohhh!” as they were inches away from regaining the lead.
From this point on, the two teams battled back and forth.
With 6:35 left in the game, Kaiden Guhle hooked Jonny Brodzinksi as he was flying down the ice. The late penalty gave the Rangers the best opportunity to make this their 13th comeback win of the year.
And it looked like the blueshirts might actually take the lead, if it weren’t for the outstanding goaltending by Montembeault. On the power play, New York generated 6 total shots on net and kept sustained pressure on the Canadiens penalty killers.
In a flurry of shots, first from Panarin, then Trocheck, Montreal was able to clear the zone. But the Rangers were able to skate right back in a few seconds later and set up one of their best offensive chances of the game. Zibanejad was able to get one shot off, but then Kreider took a rebound shot and then immediately after that Trocheck found the loose puck and took another shot on net. It didn’t seem what angle or from where on the ice, Montembeault was determined to not let another goal go by him.
After the Canadiens killed off the penalty, there was a lot of neutral ice zone play and then late in the period Montreal got another chance to take the lead. With only 1:13 left in the game, Suzuki stole the puck in the Rangers zone and took a shot on net.
It seemed the two teams might go to overtime, but then with just 14 seconds left on the clock, Jayden Struble fired a shot on net that Quick had to stop and decided to hold on for another faceoff.
That meant, Trocheck and Monahan would square off for the faceoff in the Rangers zone. Monahan ends up winning the crucial draw and Savard is able to take one shot with 10 seconds left and Quick holds on again for a faceoff.
So with 8 seconds left on the clock, Trocheck and Monahan battled in the faceoff dot again. But this time Trocheck won the draw, but the Rangers were unable to clear the zone, as the Canadiens regained possession along the boards. Savard picked up the puck at the boards and instead of shooting it with 4 seconds on the clock, he passed it to Monahan in the slot. Quick did not anticipate the pass, which meant he was completely out of position, so when Monahan took the shot, Quick needed to dive back into the net to make the save.
End of Regulation: Rangers 3, Canadiens 3
Overtime
The Rangers had not played a solid game in tonight’s game, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t entertaining. The Rangers finished the three periods with 44 shots on net, whereas the Canadiens had attempted a total of 28 shots.
But the overtime period would start with end to end action. First Cole Caufield had his best offensive chance of the game. With just 4:42 on the clock, Matheson was able to find Caufield, who was standing all alone in the slot area and as he took the shot, Quick somehow came up with the game saving stop.
Then on the other end of the ice, Panarin took a shot on Montembeault that he was able to turn away, and on the rebound, it gave the Canadiens the chance to skate back up the ice up with 2 on 1 odd man rush.
This time Matheson and Suzuki raced up the ice, and first Suzuki set up Matheson for a shot that Quick was able to saved, but then Suzuki quickly jumped on the rebound, which Quick had to come up with another big save to keep the Rangers in the game.
The Rangers were clearly not focused on defense in this game, as they allowed Montreal to skate all over the ice with speed and space. But after the two chances by Suzuki and Matheson, the Rangers began to clamp down on the open ice play.
Which meant, the pace of the overtime slowed down considerably for the next several minutes, until 31 seconds left on the clock, when Lafreniere nearly gave the Rangers the win.
As the Rangers entered the zone, Lafreniere took the puck and got one shot off that Montembeault was able to see and make the save, but then Lafreniere pounced on the rebound and Montembeault was forced to make an acrobat save, where he literally through his body at the puck and knocked it out of mid-air with the paddle of his stick.
With only 12 seconds left in overtime, K’Andre Miller got called for a holding penalty against Slafkovsky. So with seconds left, Head Coach Marty St. Louis decided to use his time-out.
This had been a hard fought game, so with only 12 seconds left Monahan and Trocheck faced off once again. This time Trocheck got chased from the faceoff dot, so Zibanejad came in to take the defensive zone draw.
Monahan won the draw, but the Rangers quickly regained possession.
And that’s when the Rangers raced up ice. As soon as they entered the zone, Zibanejad let a shot go that Montembeault made the save, but then Jacob Trouba found the rebound and fired it on net. And somehow Montembeault dove back to stop the puck from crossing the goal line.
End of Overtime: Rangers 3, Canadiens 3
Shootout
Nick Suzuki (MTL)—he stick handled toward Quick, but ended up waiting too long, as Quick didn’t bite on any of the deke moves and he was able to make the save
Artemi Panarin(NYR)—as he came down the ice on Montembeault, he went to the backhand shot, which went wide of the net, as the goaltender forced Panarin to shoot wide.
Cole Caufield (MTL)— as he came down the ice, he crossed over to the forehand shot on the left hand side and beat Quick below the glove.
Mika Zibanejad (NYR)—with speed Zibanejad approached Montembeault, and as he made the move from backhand to forehand, he got the shot off, but Montembeault was able to get the paddle of his stick in front of it and make the incredible save
Josh Anderson (MTL)—as he skated down, Quick was tracking him the whole way and so his shot went wide off the post.
Alexis Lafreniere (NYR)— he skated straight down the middle of the ice and took a quick wrist shot on net that Montembeault easily saved to secure the overtime victory for the Canadiens.
Final Score: Canadiens 4, Rangers 3
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Game Analysis:
Who knows exactly what’s going on with the Rangers in 2024, but the game play has been anything, but consistent. The Rangers played awful against Carolina, but then played really well against the Blackhawks and then once again they did not play well tonight against Montreal.
So what is going on?
For one thing, there are several new players in the lineup—which could be affecting the overall flow of the game. First of all, rookie prospect Brennan Othmann got his 2nd start in as many games. And Brodzinksi was back in the lineup, replacing Tyler Pitlick.
These subtle line changes may not seem like a big deal, but if your team allows the opposition to skate up the ice and also keep the puck deep in your own zone for longer than 45 seconds—it throws off everyone’s ice time and rhythm. And several times tonight, the Rangers got caught on the ice in extended shifts.
On the first Montreal goal, the Rangers were caught on the ice for more than a minute shift. And on the 3rd goal the Rangers gave up, Miller and several other players had been on the ice for close to 2 minutes.
The Rangers next game will be on Monday night at MSG versus the NHL points leader Vancouver Canucks. If the Rangers play as badly as they did tonight, don’t be surprised if Igor Shesterkin gets pulled during the game. Whatever the problem in the lockerroom, the blueshirts need to wake up and fix it, otherwise the point lead they currently enjoy will turn into chasing after the other teams in the NHL.
The big knock on the Rangers coming into this season was their inability win the big game and finish teams off. All season long last year, the Rangers only showed up when their backs were against the wall. Hence the “No Quit in NY” motto.
But that isn’t a way to manage your season. The teams that contend for Stanley Cups know how to control the game and put other teams away. When you get into May and June, the level of competition increases and the teams that play around with the puck, end up going home very early.
And that’s exactly what happened to the Rangers, who went up 2 games to none against the Devils, only to lose the series in 7 games.
Is that still the big problem with this team? Do the Rangers players think they have a lock on the playoffs, as of January 6th? Head Coach Peter Laviolette either needs to have a sit down conversation with key members of this team—or he needs to bench someone for not playing the system.
But at this point in the season, it’s inexcusable to see the careless errors and turnovers in your own zone. The Rangers know better and they’ve played much better games this year—and tonight was not one of them.