Rangers blink first and lose heartbreaker to Habs

Updated:

In what was a tight contest, the Rangers just fell short after giving up a late third period goal to Nate Thompson to seal the 2-1 win for the Canadiens at Madison Square Garden. Here is our recap.

Before the game, it was announced that Libor Hajek would be out 3-4 weeks with a knee sprain that he suffered in the game versus Columbus. The loss of Hajek opened a spot for Marc Staal, who made his return after being out almost a month due to an infection in his ankle.

Not enough shots: Although the Rangers put up 30 shots on net, for the majority of the night, they were either outshot my Montreal or were passing up many shooting chances that could have resulted in goals. Perfect example of this is during the final minute with the extra attacker on the ice. The Rangers spent more than 15 seconds holding onto the puck and not shooting it on net. For almost all of the evening, the Rangers were trying to make the perfect play and with Montreal doing the exact opposite, it led to that last minute goal that ultimately hurt New York.

Alexandar The Great Shines Again: Many were concerned about starting Georgiev on back to back nights, especially after a night where he was bombarded with scoring chance after scoring chance versus Columbus. He proved that he could bear the load as he stopped 31 shots against him to keep New York in the game.

Brendan Smith with Silky Mits: Not every day can you say your 4th line wing made a dazzling play on a breakaway, but tonight was one of those moments. At 17:30 of the second period Brendan Smith scored a beauty of a goal after beating Arturri Lehkonen, who could not keep the puck on his stick in the Rangers zone.

Next Game: The Rangers head west to take on the Vegas Golden Knights at 7PM on MSG. LETS GO RANGERS

Mentioned in this article:

More About: