The Montreal Canadiens got to New York hoping to inflict a sixth loss in a row to the Rangers, but things didn’t go as planned. Interestingly, in their last game, the Habs had notched the game-winning goal following a missed penalty call on Nick Suzuki and yesterday afternoon, it was a missed penalty call on the locals that gave them to win.
The Blueshirts got a boost of energy for the game with both Chris Kreider and first-line center Filip Chytil returning to action. While neither got on the scoresheet, Kreider’s big frame was instrumental in two of the hosts’ goals.
The game was less than two minutes old when Josh Anderson decided it was time to settle the score with Rangers captain Jacob Trouba who had knocked out Justin Barron on a legal but damageable hit in the previous duel between the two sides. Not many thought Anderson would get the upper hand in that battle, but his merry-go-round spinning technic seemed to surprise the tough defenseman and the Canadiens player prevailed.
Even though the Rangers were struggling prior to the game, their power play still sat in 10th place in the league and it showed. They scored their first goal after Emil Heineman was called for holding against Kreider and Mike Matheson joined him in the box on a delay of game penalty. Two men up, New York moved the puck well and with Kreider’s big frame screening Cayden Primeau, Panarin buried his shot from the top of the circle.
The Canadiens bounced back a little over two minutes later when Matheson made amends for his penalty with a shot from the slot. The Rangers then took a couple of penalties with the Habs being unable to beat Jonathan Quick and, as luck would have it, it was Vincent Trochek who had been assessed a high-sticking call who broke the deadlock with four seconds left in the first frame.
Montreal played a strong second period, testing Quick with 14 shots, but they were unable to find the back of the net. Late in the period, a roughing call was assessed against Arber Xhekaj and Mika Zibanejad found the back of the net, thanks to Kreider’s ability to screen the goalie. That call against Xhekaj was part of the reason why Martin St-Louis in his post game comments repeated the same thing over and over in a fantastic John Tortorella impression:
I loved our game, but I’m not going to talk about the refs.
Down by two goals to start the final frame, the Canadiens didn’t give up. Cole Caufield scored his third goal in as many games four minutes in to bring the Habs within one. 10 minutes later Suzuki sent everyone back to square one on a good passing play with Caufield and Lane Hutson after New York turned the puck over.
With a little less than six minutes to go, both team still had everything to play for, but unfortunately for Kirby Dach, he received a high-sticking double minor with less than three minutes to go. There was nothing wrong with that call as he clearly made contact with Zibanejad’s face, but when the Rangers scored their third power play goal of the game to take the two points, there was a missed call.
Just like Suzuki wasn’t assessed a penalty for holding in overtime against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Rangers’ trip on Joel Armia went unpunished and it led to the game-winning goal. As I wrote a couple of days ago, the Jackets’ coach was livid on that play and so was St-Louis a little over 48 hours later.
Related: Evason Furious About Canadiens’ Game-Winning Goal
The Canadiens played a good game, but they left New York empty-handed and frustrated with the officiating. With less than 24 hours to turn the page and facing a long pre-game ceremony today in Boston, it won’t be easy for the Canadiens to stay focused and energized.
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