It's too bad every game cannot be against Montreal.It was a celebratory night as The New York Rangers ended their five-game winless streak, and knocked out the Montreal Habs with four-sucker punches, 4-1. New York is 2-4-1 in its last seven games, with both wins coming against our favorite opponent at the Garden -- four wins in the last four home meetings with the Habs. It was the Canadiens' first regulation loss since Dec. 23 (5-0-2), despite eight power plays.
The system works when you play disciplined hockey.
Similar to the Rangers previous game (and loss) to Philadelphia, it was a game full of penalties by our Blueshirts, including two 5-on-3's, the difference this time our special team built for killing penalties managed the job - all of them. The defense finally played defense for a change, with the exception of a ridiculous Marek Malik turnover that could have changed the tone of the game, had the Canadiens delivered on the shot. Lucky for us.
Despite his -12 for the season, newcomer Chris Drury delivered on the first goal and looked strong as he buried himself into Habs goalkeeper Christobal Huet's far post throughout the game. It is a pleasure to see a consistent player, like Drury, playing the post looking for dirty goals. Jaromir Jagr actually skated hard throughout, Martin Straka, Petr Prucha and Nigel Dawes delivered on excellent goals, and our mentally ailing goalkeeper Henrik Lunqvist looked sharp, focused and unstoppable.
May this all continue 'hopeful Rangers fans' as it feels good seeing the win; it is what we expect of our team when we are on the verge of making/breaking the playoffs.
Currently The Rangers are in last place in the Atlantic Division and ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings (21-19-5). We are four wins away from the top division seed and four losses away from the worst team in the Conference, so needless to say, the race will be a close one. In order to secure and guarantee a spot in the playoffs, the Blueshirts will have to win two of every three games for the remainder of the season - a streak we haven't seen since this time last year.
Can history be repeated? Better yet, can last night be repeated?
tdr
