Rangers clinch #2 seed in Metro with win, Flyers loss

Photo by Scott Levy/NHLI via Getty Images

The Rangers will have home-ice in the first round of the playoffs, as the combination of their 2-1 win over Buffalo and Philly’s 4-2 loss to Tampa Bay sealed the deal for the #2 seed in the Metropolitan Division.  It took a while to solve fourth string goalie Matt Hackett, who played a great game, but the Rangers were able to crack him twice. Hackett finished the game with 28 saves. Across the ice, Henrik Lundqvist was the main reason why the Rangers won the game, making 23 pretty difficult saves for his 33rd win of the season.

The Rangers came out slow –again– in the first period, allowing a bad Buffalo team to walk all over them. But the Rangers absolutely dominated the second period, to the tune of an 18-2 Fenwick advantage at even strength. They got the tying goal with seconds left in the period, and got the winner with under two minutes to go in the game. It wasn’t pretty, but they got the big two points and the home-ice.

On to the goals:

Sabres 1, Rangers 0

The Sabres won an offensive zone face off and controlled the puck. They eventually worked the play to Mike Weber at the point, who put a soft wrist shot on net. Drew Stafford was in front, with Marc Staal using the front-of-net style of defending known as fronting. With Staal fronting, Stafford was left untouched in front, and was able to get a stick on the Weber wrist shot, deflecting it past Hank. It’s also worth noting that for all of their great offensive play, the Benoit Pouliot-Derick Brassard-Mats Zuccarello line was out there for another even strength goal against.

Rangers 1, Sabres 1

Brassard made a nice saucer pass to Zucc at the blue line to gain the offensive zone. Zucc drew two Sabres to him before dishing the puck –with a ridiculous backhanded pass– to Pouliot, cutting in from the blue line. Stafford didn’t pick him up, and Pouliot was able to tee it up and rip it over Hackett.

Rangers 2, Sabres 1

Henrik Tallinder flipped the puck out of the Buffalo zone, but didn’t get it into the Rangers zone. Raphael Diaz knocked the puck down, moved the puck over to Staal, who hit Derek Stepan with a nice little pass to spring the Rangers on a 3-on-2 rush. Stepan hit Martin St. Louis, who got the puck across to Rick Nash for a one-timer that Hackett couldn’t get.

Fenwick Chart:

Courtesy of Extra Skater

This chart isn’t going to be 100% accurate, but it’s 99% accurate. That’s just because the chart wasn’t ready for the end of the game, so I took the chart with 1:03 remaining. But this tells the story that we expected: The Rangers came out slow in the first, but really turned it on in the second and third to get the big win.

Win Expectancy Chart:

There will be no more surprises for the Rangers this season. Saturday’s game in Montreal will be relatively meaningless. They are in the playoffs, they know they have home-ice. Now it’s just a matter of the Flyers or the Blue Jackets. The real ride begins next week. Hang on.