Despite a solid game from Cayden Primeau, the Canadian loses 5-2 to the Rangers

(New York) The New York Rangers scored four goals in the third period, including two in just over two minutes early in the period, and they defeated the Montreal Canadiens by a score of 5-2 on Sunday evening at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers deserved this victory despite a very solid performance from goalkeeper Cayden Primeau, who made 41 saves.

Artemi Panarin was the main architect of this victory for the Rangers, their 53^e of the season which equals a team record.

Panarin scored the eventual victorious goal in the third period and added three assists, including one on the last goal of the match, that of Alexis Lafrenière scored into an empty net.

Mika Zibanejad also played an important role in this victory by scoring two goals, including the net which allowed the Rangers to tie the score at 1-1 in the second period.

Chris Kreider completed for the Rangers, who finished the game with 46 shots.

The Habs’ response came from Cole Caufield (24^e) and Alex Newhook (13^e). Defenseman Mike Matheson collected his 46^e and 47^e help mentions.

Martin St-Louis’ men directed 28 pucks towards Igor Shesterkin.

The Canadian will return to the Bell Center on Tuesday evening where they will host the Philadelphia Flyers.

Primeau alert

The Rangers had made their previous outing Friday night against the Detroit Red Wings and the Canadian showed up at Madison Square Garden 24 hours after battling the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre.

So should we be surprised to see the Rangers dominate the first 20 minutes of play? Not necessarily.

And yet, the Canadian returned to the locker room after these first 20 minutes with a one-goal lead thanks to Caufield, who scored from behind Shesterkin’s net with less than 30 seconds to play.

But the Canadian’s real star was Primeau, who blocked all 16 Rangers shots, including some particularly dangerous ones from Lafrenière and Panarin.

Primeau continued his good work in the second period, and it took a power play in the middle of the period for the Rangers to tie the score, with the help of some fortunate puck hops.

From the right point, Panarin shot the puck towards the net but it hit a player at the top of the slot before veering towards Primeau’s right, where Zibanejad was.

He tried to pass to his right, but the disc deflected off Joel Armia’s skate before sliding between the goalie’s pads, only 10 seconds after the start of a bad penalty on Juraj Slafkovsky.

Quick goals from Kreider and Panarin in the first half of the third period then allowed the Rangers to give themselves a two-goal cushion.

However, the Canadian had not said his last word. A long and precise pass from Matheson allowed Newhook to run alone towards Shesterkin, who he beat in the upper part, above his glove.

Zibanejad’s second goal, scored some four minutes after Newhook’s, would cut off the Canadian players’ legs once and for all.

In details

Caufield through the back door

Cole Caufield, as we know, takes shots literally from everywhere, with little regard to the legitimate chance the puck has of sneaking behind the goalie. His persistence, however, paid off at the end of the first period. After deflecting a shot off the post, Caufield took advantage of Igor Shesterkin’s confusion to target the goalie’s skates from behind the net. Bet won: the disc deviated as desired and the American was off for his 24^e goal of the season, his fourth in as many games. It was also, according to shot location data provided by the NHL-EDGE site, the first time in his career that he scored from behind the goal line, at his 19^e attempt. We could not find the statistics of the deceased Mini-Putt Challengebut we are led to believe that the “back door” success rate was higher there.

Lafrenière is having a blast

We already knew that Alexis Lafrenière was having a good season. He added a layer against the Habs. His trio, with Vincent Trochek and Artemi Panarin, was a real steamroller. Among other things, we were able to appreciate the complicity between Panarin and the Quebecer on the Rangers’ third goal, which became the winning goal. Lafrenière perfectly read and executed the pass and go initiated by Panarin in Canadian territory, leaving David Savard and Mike Matheson speechless. However, it was in the first period that Lafrenière performed the best individual maneuver of the match. Rushing into the neutral zone, he took down Michael Pezzetta by passing the puck between his skates while making a pivot. He then handed the disc to Kaapo Kakko behind him, but the Finn’s shot was stopped by Cayden Primeau. If it had ended with a goal, we would have seen the sequence again in all the end-of-season montages.

No waves for the agitator

Matt Rempe’s style of play may belong to the past, but the love he enjoys in New York is very current, and above all very real. The brawler was inserted into the lineup against the Canadian, and from his first presence, we felt the crowd get excited, even if the colossus looked a little crazy when he missed his bodycheck attempt. against David Savard. Quickly, “Reme!” Remedy! » followed by applause resonated from the four corners of Madison Square Garden. The agitator, however, essentially had no impact on the match. He was content, as is often the case, with eight small appearances, including four in the first period, and one at the very end of the match when the score was 5-2.

Simon-Olivier Lorange, The Press