Also draw Habs in first round
WASHINGTON — For quite some time the Rangers and Canadiens appeared to be on a path toward a firstround matchup against one another, a rematch of the uber-compelling 2014 Eastern Conference finals.
Finally, it is official. With the Rangers’ 2-0 loss to the Capitals at Verizon Center Wednesday night in which they played with- out six regulars, the Blueshirts are now locked into the first wild-card spot in the East and thus a series against the Atlantic Division champions.
The series begins in Montreal next week. The Rangers, who went 0-2-1 against the Canadiens this season, won that conference final three years ago in six games to advance to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1994.
“For starters, you talk about two buildings that are fun to play in, MSG and Bell Centre,” Derek Stepan said. “You look at their team and they’re playing at a high, high level right now. I think their game is really starting to come. They got healthy, their coach (Claude Julien) has kind of fit in now and they understand what message he’s putting across. They’re a firstplace team and we’ve got to look at it like that. They’re a team that’s one of the best in the league and it’s gonna be a real tough task to go into that building and find a way to get it done.”
Drama abounded in that 2014 duel, from Chris Kreider’s Game 1 collision with Carey Price that forced the Montreal goaltender out for the series, Stepan getting his jaw broken, Rangers staff members being thrown out of a Canadiens practice and Martin St. Louis scoring the overtime goal in Game 4 weeks after his mother’s funeral.
“I feel like I’ve gone through a lot of different styles of series, and that one we had two different guys get suspended,” said Stepan, referencing John Moore and Dan Carcillo. “It was a physical series. Two teams that play a high-speed offense and two elite goaltenders. It’s funny, we’re gonna be kind of similar going at them again.”
Henrik Lundqvist, who made 23 saves Wednesday, is 14-17-3 with a 2.87 goals against average and .898 save percentage in 35 career regularseason games against Montreal. In the 2014 conference finals he went 4-1 with a 2.15 GAA and .922 save percentage with a shutout to seal the series at MSG after being pulled in Game 5.
Ryan McDonagh, Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello and Jesper Fast all sat out Wednesday with bumps and bruises as expected, and Brady Skjei and Nick Holden ended up joining them.
“After talking with our medical staff, I think everyone felt that Nick and Brady both had some minor bumps and bruises, so a little extra time off would not hurt them,” said Alain Vigneault, who added all six players will be available for Game 1.
The Rangers play Ottawa Saturday and Pittsburgh Sunday before the postseason frenzy begins.
“I’m excited, man,” Marc Staal said. “Playoff hockey. We’re excited to get to it.”