rangers canadiens kevin shattenkirk henrik lundqvist

Joel Armia notched a hat trick as the Rangers were unable to keep their comeback magic alive last night. The Blueshirts jumped out to an early lead after a very strong first period, but the Habs adjusted and came back with 2nd and 3rd periods where they skated circles around the Rangers. Three straight goals put the Rangers in a hole they were unable to comeback from.

Brendan Lemieux scored his first goal as a Ranger in the loss, and has looked very good since his acquisition. Brady Skjei had a pair of assists, continuing his strong play since the trade deadline as well. Libor Hajek played 17 minutes of, dare I say, somewhat good hockey and didn’t look out of place.

Rangers 1, Habs 0

This goal happens because both Vlad Namestnikov and Jesper Fast were in deep on the forecheck to collect Ryan Strome’s dump in. The puck got back to the point, and Brady Skjei’s wrister from the point was deflected by Namestnikov past Carey Price.

Habs 1, Rangers 1

The Rangers fell asleep on this one. Kevin Shattenkirk pressured the dump in all the way to the red line, which was an odd choice. Then Marc Staal was very slow to get the dump, which did take a weird bounce basically to the front of the net. Shattenkirk was slow to get back and cover Brendan Gallagher, who cut to the net as Tomas Tatar got to the dump in before Staal and fed him in front for the goal.

Habs 2, Rangers 1

Armia’s first was just unlucky. The dump in took a crazy bounce to the slot and Armia beat everyone to the puck.

Habs 3, Rangers 1

There is no excuse for how Shattenkirk defended this 2-on-2 here. Skjei was all over Jesperi Kotkaniemi on the rush, and Shattenkirk’s job is to defend the pass. He didn’t and Armia had a tap-in.

Habs 3, Rangers 2

Skjei made a great feed here to Fast, whom the Canadiens just forgot about. He was unable to get his shot, and actually had the puck knocked off his stick, but it went right to Lemieux who put it in the empty net.

Habs 4, Rangers 2

Armia empty netter.

Shot Heatmap

The Rangers spread their shots out a lot, but the Habs really crashed the net hard. All three of their non-empty net goals game from within that high danger area. The Rangers controlled the first period, but the next 30-ish minutes were all Montreal.

The Rangers have today off and then have Washington on a Sunday matinee. After that the Rangers have to take, if I’m counting correctly, seven lengthy flights for each of their next seven games. That’s going to be a tiring stretch for the Blueshirts. But hey, that’s what the Western Conference does all year.

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