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Guest NYR Blog Dan Petriw: Rangers Defeat Sabres 2-1 |
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by Dan Petriw
With Jan out for the next few days, he asked me to help out and provide some coverage of the Rangers as they wrap up their regular season. For those who don’t know me, I am one of the Islander bloggers. Therefore, I will do my best to provide honest and unbiased analysis of the Rangers. To be clear, I am not used to writing about a team that is—what’s the word I’m looking for—GOOD. But I will give it my best shot.
Rick Nash scored late in the third period and the blue shirts defeated the Sabres by a score of 2-1. Playing a team with nothing to play for can be difficult this time of year, and the Sabres annoyed and frustrated the Rangers in the first part of this game. However, Henrik Lundquist was outstanding turning away 23 Buffalo shots. The win clinches home ice advantage for the Rangers in the first round of the playoffs.
New York got off to a slow start as Buffalo carried the play in the first period. The Sabres have long been eliminated but their roster of young players played hard, hungry and determined. If it weren’t for the strong play of Lundquist, the score would not have been scoreless after the first period. The Sabres got on the board halfway through the second as Drew Stafford redirected a Mike Weber shot to give Buffalo a 1-0 lead. In fact, it was the Sabres only shot of the period as the Rangers outshot Buffalo 18-1 in the second frame.
With the period nearly over, the Rangers were finally able to tie the score as Benoit Pouliot converted on a gorgeous assist from Mats Zuccarello. Pouliot received a pretty backhand pass from Zuccarello and buried it over the shoulder of Sabres’ goalie Matt Hackett.
It truly felt like the Rangers tilted the ice after they went down 1-0 as they carried the play for much of the final thirty minutes. The Rangers penalty kill was huge in the third period, killing off two Sabres’ power plays. The Rangers finally were able to put the game away when Marty St. Louis found a wide open Rick Nash who let a howitzer of a one-timer go into the back of the net with only 1:34 remaining in regulation. The Rangers held on to win their final home game of the regular season and simply found a way to get by a very willing Sabres team.
The Rangers are now locked into the two spot in the Metro division and will wait to see if they will be hosting the Flyers or the Blue Jackets in the first round of the playoffs. Regardless of their playoff opponent, the Rangers are playing some of their best hockey of the season at exactly the right time. The blue shirts are now off until Saturday where they will finish up the regular season in Montreal. For more on all things hockey, please follow me on Twitter at @DanDanNoodles78.
From Jan:
The Playoff Race:
Starting with 12 games to go, scoreboard watching became the sport inside of the sport. As of March 27, the Rangers sit second in the division, 45-31-5 with 95 points. When I do a recap or game preview blog, I will include this at the bottom of the blog. However, on non-game/recap days, I will run this daily since this is a huge topic of conversation and a large component of our focus.
As Dan wrote above, the Rangers win Thursday coupled with Philadelphia's loss to Tampa locked in the two-seed in the Metro Division and home-ice in round one. The Rangers' opponent is yet to be determined, as both the Flyers and Blue Jackets have 91 points, with Columbus having one more overall win at 42 but Philly having the edge in ROW 38-37. Columbus tonight faces Tampa, who beat the Flyers yesterday and is playing for home-ice themselves in round one, as a win against the Blue Jackets moves them past Montreal. For those who argue that the Rangers might be better opening on the road, since they are 25-14-1 away from MSG, the 20-17-4 home mark is skewed a bit by the poor, early-season play and they are 14-7-2 at home since December. If they played at that pace all season, their home mark would be better than the road one right now.
To me, with nothing to play for Saturday, I would play Ryan Haggerty, maybe sitting Brad Richards, and Justin Falk, maybe sitting Dan Girardi. I think the Nash-Stepan-St. Louis line needs the game action to try and build chemistry heading into the playoffs, so I would have all three playing. I would sit Henrik Lundqvist and play Cam Talbot. Granted, I understand the argument to play Hank, since you may end up facing Montreal down the road and the Bell Centre has been Hank's house of horrors, but he has been ridden hard down the stretch and will play daily in the playoffs, so why not give him a bit of rest before the next round.
Thursday, as noted above the Rangers beat Buffalo 2-1 and Philly lost to Tampa 4-2. Montreal lost 2-0 to the Islanders, leaving the Canadiens just one point up over the Lightning, who have a game in hand. This means that Saturday's game against the Rangers, while not important to NY, is likely to be critical to Montreal since home-ice in round one could depend on the outcome.
In the West, LA remained hot with a 3-0 shutout win over Edmonton, making them 6-3-1 in their last 10 and readying for another match-up against SJ, as Ek wrote up today. I know he is a polarizing figure in NY but Marian Gaborik scored two last night for LA and has been a major boon for their offense. Elsewhere, St. Louis lost their four in a row, 4-2 to Minnesota but may have had a bigger loss, as T.J. Oshie took a elbow/shoulder to the head from Mike Rupp and could be sidelined a bit, depending on a concussion is diagnosed. Phoenix is on the verge of elimination from the playoff hunt following their 2-0 loss to Nashville. If Dallas wins tonight against St. Louis, the Coyotes will be sitting home for the post-season. Colorado moved into first place in the Central Division with a 4-2 win over Vancouver. The Avalanche and Blues each have 111 points but Colorado has a 47-43 ROW edge and they now sit just one point behind Anaheim for the top seed out West.
Tonight, the only game of major import in the East is Columbus-Tampa while Carolina-Detroit will help determine who is the seventh or eighth seed in the East. Out West, as noted above St. Louis plays Dallas while Colorado takes on San Jose, who is locked into the two-seed in Pacific Division.
Division:
Philly - lost 4-2 to Tampa on 4/10. 3-5-2 last 10, third in division and tied with Columbus. (played 40 games at home, 40 on road, one left at home, one on road, those are @Pitt, Canes)
Columbus - won 3-1 over Dallas on 4/9, their third win in a row, 6-3-1 in last 10, fourth in the division and tied with the Flyers. First Wild Card. (played 41 games at home, 39 on road, none left at home, two on road, @TB, @Fla)
Conference (teams within 10 either way, as Boston has a lock of Atlantic division, with third place, since Montreal locked into a spot, either second or third, and wild cards up for grabs)
Montreal - second in Atlantic, lost 2-0 to the Islanders, 7-2-1 last 10, no games in hand and three points up on Rangers. (played 40 games at home, 41 on road, one left at home, none on road, Det, Rangers)
Tampa Bay - third in Atlantic, defeated Philly 4-2 on 4/10, 5-3-2 last 10, one game in hand and two points up on Rangers. (played 40 games at home, 40 on road, one left at home, one on road, Columbus, @Caps)
Detroit - fourth place in Atlantic, lost 4-3 in a shootout on 4/9, 5-3-2 in last 10, no games in hand, four points behind the Rangers, tied with Columbus, who has ROW edge 37-33. Second Wild Card. (played 40 games at home, 40 on road, one left at home, one on road, Canes, @St.L)
Summary: Two huge wins over Columbus and New Jersey, followed by a gut-check win over Phoenix, solid team effort in victory over Philly, bad loss to Calgary, convincing rebound win over Edmonton, solid victory over Vancouver, disappointing shootout loss to Colorado, frustrating loss to Ottawa, dominant win, following slow start, over Carolina and blasé effort and win over Buffalo. The Rangers have locked up the second spot in the Metro Division and finish the season Apr. 12 in Montreal.
In order:
3/21- @ CMB - win 3-1
3/22 - @NJ - win 2-0
3/24 - Phx - win 4-3, OT
3/26 - Phi - win 3-1
3/28 - @Cgy - lost 4-3
3/30 - @Edm - won 5-0
4/1 - @Van - won 3-1
4/3 - @Col - lost 3-2, S/O
4/5 - Ott - lost 3-2
4/8 - Car - won 4-1
4/10 - Buf - won 2-1
4/12 - @MTL
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