Photo by Francois Laplante/FreestylePhoto/Getty Images
Rene Bourque notched a hat trick as the Canadiens forced a Game Six in New York on Thursday. The game itself was ugly on all sides, but the Canadiens managed to capitalize on more mistakes than the Rangers. The Rangers got pretty poor goaltending and defense, were undisciplined, and didn’t deserve to win this game. Henrik Lundqvist allowed four goals on 18 shots, and Talbot allowed two on ten. Dustin Tokarski wasn’t really much better, allowing four goals in 27 shots.
On the bright side, Derek Stepan had a pair of goals in his return to the lineup with a broken jaw. Chris Kreider had a goal and three assists, but it was probably one of the worst four point nights we’ve seen since he was atrocious without the puck (as were all the Rangers, not singling him out). Also, it’s not like the Habs played perfect hockey. Both teams were sloppy here, the Rangers were just sloppier.
On to the goals:
Habs 1, Rangers 0
After a pretty bad tripping penalty by Chris Kreider, one where P.K. Subban actually fell instead of dove, the Habs made the Rangers pay. A broken stick may (MAY) have prevented Mats Zuccarello from clearing the zone. Andrei Markov picked up the puck at the point, moved it over to Subban at the other end while Alex Galchenyuk skated from behind the net to the front of the net. Subban one-timed the pass, and Galchenyuk tipped it past Hank. Anton Stralman was busy with Tomas Plekanec in front, and Marc Staal was on the far side covering the back door. Can only play with fire so many times.
Rangers 1, Habs 1
This is a weak goal by Tokarski. He needs to stop that.
Habs 2, Rangers 1
Tomas Plekanec broke in 1-on-2, made a nice little chip to one side and shot it in the other direction. A nice little play there by Plekanec to give himself room to shoot, but Hank probably wants this one back.
Habs 3, Rangers 1
Brendan Gallagher made a great falling backhand pass through Kevin Klein (he didn’t even wave his stick at it) to Max Pacioretty. Patches walked in and beat Hank five-hole. It’s rare you see Hank beaten five-hole, but someone like Patches isn’t going to miss there. It’s weak, but I personally am not blaming Hank on this, Patches couldn’t read War And Peace before a Ranger got to him.
Update: I was wrong to put this solely on Klein. There’s a whole lot of fail here. First off, Patches is Nash’s man here. Second, where in the world is Staal on this? That’s him next to the falling Gallagher. Remember that Staal is a left defenseman, and he’s on the right side. Klein was covering for him. Would have been nice for Klein to put a stick on the pass, though.
Habs 4, Rangers 1
Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh were behind the net as Mats Zuccarello got out of the box. Brian Boyle went to Lars Eller with the puck in the corner, while Carl Hagelin watched Bourque go to the front of the net. Eller hit him with the puck, and Bourque had all day to turn, set, and shoot.
Rangers 2, Habs 4
Rick Nash threw the puck on net from the corner, and it went off Josh Gorges and in.
Rangers 3, Habs 4
Nash outmuscled Markov in the corner after Hagelin dumped the puck into the zone. Nash got the puck to Chris Kreider for a chance that was stopped by Tokarski. No one cleared the rebound or took a body defensively, allowing the Rangers to continue to throw the puck at the net. Eventually Derek Stepan got the puck and buried it as Danny Briere sat there and watched him.
Rangers 4, Habs 4
The Rangers scored another powerplay goal, this time on the Plekanec penalty for embellishment. Kreider dumped the puck in the zone and chased down Subban in the corner. Zuccarello collected the puck at the far half-boards and got it to Brad Richards at the point, who got it over to McDonagh at the other point. McDonagh got the puck deep and around the net where Zucc got the puck. At this point Derick Brassard was wide open in the slot as Pacioretty was in No Man’s Land. Brian Gionta deserted McDonagh at the point to cover Brassard, who hit the now open McDonagh at the face off circle with lots of room while Kreider skated to the front of the net. Tokarski challenged McDonagh as Subban slid to block the pass, but McDonagh showed patience and waited until he saw a passing lane. Kreider gained position on Markov with his stick on the ice, and McDonagh hit Kreider for the tip into the empty net.
Habs 5, Rangers 4
Tokarski made a save on a slapshot from Boyle, and the Habs immediately turned the rebound into a 4-on-3 rush. Lars Eller got the puck to Dale Weise, who hit the trailer Bourque in the slot. Bourque picked the stick-side corner to give the Habs the lead for good.
Habs 6, Rangers 4
Martin St. Louis turned the puck over in the neutral zone on a pretty lazy backhanded flip. Weise eventually wound up with the puck and gained the zone with Girardi and McDonagh backing off. Bourque got a step on Kreider, and Weise had a perfect passing lane created by the retreating defensemen. Weise hit Bourque for the mini break, and Bourque roofed it glove side for the hat trick.
Habs 7, Rangers 4
Empty netter. No breakdown required. Honestly, even if it did require a breakdown, I wouldn’t have done it. Eleven effing goals is enough. I’m tired.
Fenwick Chart:
Courtesy of ExtraSkater
Yea, this was pure domination by the Habs. We knew this though.
It’s worth noting that I’m expecting John Moore to be suspended for two games for his hit on Dale Weise. The hit was a carbon copy of the hit Brandon Prust laid on Derek Stepan. There’s no use arguing it, the league is going to give him two games, even if Weise isn’t injured.
As mentioned yesterday, I’m not going to panic over this loss. It wasn’t a pretty game, and the Rangers clearly deserved to lose. But now they must win Game Six. This will not end will for them if they head back to Montreal for a Game Seven.
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