RED-HOT RANGERS CLINCH PLAYOFF SPOT
Rangers cook Hamburglar & Sens
OTTAWA — The Rangers like their Hamburglar well-done and their playoff berths clinched.
Henrik Lundqvist returned to the bench Thursday night to watch his teammates cook Senators rookie goalie phenom Andrew (The Hamburglar) Hammond in a 5-1 win and seal a fifth straight trip to the postseason, thanks also to Boston’s 3-2 OT loss to Anaheim.
“You don’t want to go down to the last few games to keep your season’s hopes alive,” captain Ryan McDonagh said after his Rangers (47-19-7, 101 points) moved back atop the NHL standings. “Now that we’ve got that done, we can continue to fine-tune our game, play for home ice hopefully here, and continue to work hard.”
Chris Kreider (two goals and one assist, all in the first period), Dan Boyle (goal, assist) and Mats Zuccarello (goal, assist) led the way.
Tanner Glass scored his first goal of the season to chase Hammond late in the second period. Derek Stepan and Kevin Hayes had two assists apiece. The penalty kill went 6-for-6, and Cam Talbot made 23 saves for his 20th win of the season.
This is the fifth time in franchise history that two goalies have won at least 20 games in the same season. Mike Richter and John Vanbiesbrouck last did it in 1991-92.
The Blueshirts improved to 184-3 with Lundqvist out since Feb. 2 with a blood-vessel injury, rebounding from Tuesday night’s one-sided 4-2 home loss to the Kings. But when the Rangers return to action Saturday afternoon in Boston, Lundqvist likely will start in net.
He said after Thursday morn- ing’s skate that he is “ready.” He’ll definitely start either Saturday or Sunday at home against Washington, but why wait any longer, with just nine regular-season games remaining?
“It’s hard to say no to a game right now when you’ve been away that long,” Lundqvist said of facing the Bruins. “We’ll have that discussion (Friday) and decide which game I should play (this weekend).”
The Rangers eclipsed 100 points for just the eighth time in franchise history and the second time in the last three full NHL seasons. Doing so in their 73rd game ties them with the 1970-71 and 1972-73 teams for the second-fastest sprint to the century mark, behind only the 1971-72 squad (67 games).
Hammond’s unbelievable 14-0-1 run in his first 15 starts came to a screeching halt shortly after Glass jumped out of the penalty box and buried Hayes’ second assist.
“I wanted to keep hugging Hayes for about five minutes,” said Glass, who received the Broadway Hat. “I knew (the puck) was coming. He passes everything. . . . Once it goes in, it’s just a breath of fresh air.”
Hammond, nicknamed “The Hamburglar” by a college teammate “for eating up pucks,” allowed all five Ranger goals off the rush.
Defenseman Dan Girardi left at 10:11 of the third period after blocking a Cody Ceci shot with his right arm and did not return, but coach Alain Vigneault said Girardi simply had a “gash” that required stitches and added: “I don’t think it’s anything more than that.”
Martin St. Louis (sprained MCL) returned to practice for the first time since his March 15 injury and said he is “optimistic” about his recent progress, but he looked uncomfortable, which probably pushes his return to Tuesday in Winnipeg at the earliest.