First Period:
- Nikita Kucherov (34) (Power Play) Assists: Brayden Point (38), Jake Guentzel (37)
- Yanni Gourde (7) Assists: Gage Goncalves (10), Victor Hedman (47)
- Brayden Point (40) (Power Play) Assists: Jake Guentzel (38), Nikita Kucherov (80)
Second Period:
- Mika Zibanejad (17) (Power Play) Assists: Artemi Panarin (49), J.T. Miller (43)
Third Period:
- Brayden Point (41) (Power Play) Assists: Jake Guentzel (39), Nikita Kucherov (81)
- Brandon Hagel (35) (Empty Net) Assists: Ryan McDonagh (27)
Stats:
Adam Rotter:
- It’s only going to be a matter of hours/days until the final nail is in the coffin of this season as the Rangers get eliminated from the postseason.
- They came into tonight’s game with a game in hand on Montreal and six points back. A win and the Rangers would still be in it, but it only took 1 minute and 45 seconds or so for Tampa to score thrice and effectively put this game out of reach.
- They were booed off the ice at times and it’s deserved. From Chris Drury on down, everyone outside of Will Cuylle and maybe Jonathan Quick need to own this disappointing season. Maybe this is for the best though. Maybe sneaking into the playoffs would keep things closer to status quo than this embarrassing season but an especially embarrassing end of season deserves. Chris Drury wanted to make changes after the Rangers came within two games of the Stanley Cup last season so maybe sneaking in wouldn’t change the plan, but how this season went and how it’s ended will force bigger and more needed changes.
- The Rangers, right now, would have the 11th pick and that would allow them, if they won the lottery, to get the first overall pick. You can only move up 10 spots in the lottery and so that is why the pick is top-13 protected. If the Rangers are in the 13 slot for the draft and win the lottery they would move up to third. For a while I thought that this wouldn’t be an issue because the Rangers were going to make the playoffs and then I figured they would finish just outside the playoffs and above pick 13. Now it’s entirely possible that the Rangers could end up with a top-10 pick. I would think that if it’s in the top-10, certainly in the top-3 that the Rangers would keep it and shift next years pick to Pittsburgh unprotected. That would be a big risk if they fall on their face again next year and it would also remove a potential trade deadline asset if the Rangers do rebound.
- It’s Philly on Wednesday.