Photo Credit: Getty Images/Harry How
Since taking on the west coast in the Stanley Cup finals last season, it seems that the east has a lot to be fearful of. But not for the 46-18-7 New York Rangers. Having beat the 46-21-7 Anaheim Ducks 4-1 back in California on January 7, the Rangers took them on again last night in a race to the playoffs at home to nearly double the score from their previous meeting.
Said to be the leading team in the NHL right now, the Anaheim Ducks who are , with 99 points, seemed to have choked against a team that they could have probably ended the game with a shootout, or possibly, had a score closer than 7-2. When it comes to the Rangers right now, it seems that everybody goes into panic mode, or, they get too into their thoughts about being able to beat them, that they ultimately end up coming apart at the seams of their jerseys and don’t know which shoulder to look over first. Leading the division with 99 points, the Rangers are the team to beat right now, just so anybody can say that they did it.
The first period starts off fast, with a goal from Chris Kreider that Corey Perry answered back within a minute and a few seconds. Derek Stepan gave his team the lead when he buried another shot on a power play goal, making Perry eager to strike again. Carl Hagelin came in at the half point of the period with his 16th goal of the season, and Perry, trying to go for the hat trick, went for his second goal of the night. After the Rangers put those three particular goals past the net, the Ducks pulled goaltender Frederik Andersen, replacing him with backup John Gibson. The period closed with the Rangers leading a close game of 3-2.
Early on in the second, J.T. Miller brings it to 4-2, but Stepan found a way to get it past Gibson to make it a three goal game. Every time the Ducks struck Cam Talbot, he was quicker than they expected and responded even before they knew where the puck was. Every save Talbot made earned a response of cheers and chants for the young goaltender filling in for the injured Henrik Lundqvist.
With the Ducks still stuck at 2, the Rangers continued their lead when Jesper Fast scored the 6th goal of the night, and Derick Brassard scored the 7th and the final. When reaching the score of 7-2 with a lot of time still left in the third, you couldn’t help but notice how realistically, there was a lot of time left for Anaheim to make a change, but if they would even try to do it would mean something completely different. Anaheim tried so many times to even merely meet the Rangers half way, but Talbot denied them every time.
