Our NY Hockey teams playoff hopes continue to take a hit with the Rangers and Islanders both turning in home losses onTuesday night. It was a double whammy for the Isles, as they not only lost to the Montreal Canadians 6-2, but they also lost Johnny Boychuk, who took a hard hit in the 3rd period and promptly left the ice. As for the Rangers, they dropped their 3rd straight decisions in a hard-fought 3-1 loss to the reigning Stanley Cup Champions in the Saint Louis Blues.
The Isles came out slow and the Habs pounced with 3 first period goals past goaltender Thomas Griess, including a shorthanded goal late in the period, to take a 3-0 lead. In an attempt to wake up his guys, Islanders coach Barry Trotz took Greiss out and replaced him with Sean Varlamov, but little to avail as Montreal made it 4-0 quickly after the 2nd period got underway.
The Isles would score two garbage time goals in the 3rd from…, but the game ended on a sour note with another shorthanded goal by the Canadiens, with this one heading into the empty net sealing the game. The loss is the Islanders 4th straight, as they drop to 36-22-8, and remain in a tie with the Blue jackets for both WildCard spots in the East.
As for the Rangers they struck early on a Mike Zibanejad goal that was his 33rd of the season, but that would all the Rangers would get past Blues hotshot goaltender Jordan Binnington, as no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t get anything past the Saint Louis net-minder. Eventually, the Blues rewarded their goalie by putting two pucks past NYR goalie Alexander Georgiev,(Who had 21 saves), before sinking an empty netter late, to seal the contest. The Blueshirts fought hard against the reigning champs and the best team in the Western Conference, but fell short. With this loss, the math stacks up against the Rangers, as they trail the Hurricanes by a point, who have two games in hand over the Rangers, while the Blue and Islanders lead the Rangers by 4 points, with the Rangers only having a game in hand over them. If the NYR want to make the postseason, they are going to need some help, along with winning games to do so. That :winning games” part needs to begin against the Metro leading Washington Capitals on Thursday(3/6) at MSG Game time is 7:00PM.
PS: BRUINS CEMENT THEMSELVES AS BEST TEAM IN HOCKEY: IN a battle of the two top teams in the Atlantic Division, and the NHL the Boston Bruins (42-13-6), defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning(4014-5) 2-1 in Florida. Any doubt, that the Bruins haven’t really been the best team in hockey, has now been erased with this win. They are truly amazing to watch, and are extra hungry to win it all, after losing in 7 games to the Blues in the Stanley Cup Finals last season.
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