Rangers Clinch Playoff Berth and Bring Hamburglar Back to Earth

The undefeated string of Ottawa Senator net minder Andrew Hammond, aka the “Hamburglar”, came to a quick and sudden end last night, as the Rangers scored five goals and in which Chris Kreider had two.
The young Blueshirt power forward even threw in an assist on Dan Boyle’s goal to register three points in the first period. This gave the Rangers a 3-1 lead after one, as Curtis Lazar tied the score just 19 seconds after Kreider’s first goal. But that was as close as the Senators would get all night, as New York dominated this game from start to finish.
Mats Zuccarello scored early in the second period and then things got a little sloppy. Rick Nash was called for two consecutive penalties, which is very un-Nash like. The second was for Elbowing, as he tried to protect himself from a check. This was how players protected themselves from hits in the “old days”, but the new rules frown on that, hence the penalty on Nash.
With Nash in the penalty box, Tanner Glass was called for a slash. The Rangers killed off the two man advantage and then Glass was hit in stride with a neat pass as he left the box, skated in on Hammond and scored the fifth Ranger goal of the night.
The third period was also sloppy, and the Rangers gave the Senators six power plays in all, but killed off every one of them. The Rangers seemed to get the poor play from the Kings game out of their system against Ottawa; and I hope they can get this sloppy play out of their system against the Bruins on Saturday.

Scoring:
NYR: Chris Kreider (19), Assisted by Derek Stepan
OTT: Curtis Lazar (5), Assisted by Erik Condra
NYR: Dan Boyle (9), Assisted by Rick Nash & Chris Kreider
NYR: Chris Kreider (20), Assisted by Derek Stepan & Mats Zuccarello
NYR: Mats Zuccarello (14), Assisted by Kevin Hayes & Keith Yandle
NYR: Tanner Glass (1), Assisted by Kevin Hayes & Dan Boyle
Team Stats NYR OTT
Shots on Goal 32 24
Hits 22 24
Face Off Wins 28 32
Giveaways 6 16
Takeaways 3 6
Power Plays 0 for 0 0 for 6
Blocked Shots 14 11

Goalie Stats:
Andrew Hammond: 17 Saves on 22 Shots for a SV% of .773
Chris Driedger: 10 Saves on 10 Shots for a SV% of 1.000
Cam Talbot: 23 Saves on 24 Shots for a SV% of .958

3 Stars of the Game:
3rd Star: Derek Stepan: 1 Goal 1 Assist
2nd Star: Dan Boyle: 1 Goal 1 Assist
1st Star: Chris Kreider: 2 Goals 1 Assist

Broadway Bits:
The victory earned the Rangers a playoff spot for their fifth consecutive season and for the ninth time in the last ten seasons.
The Rangers also reached the 100 point mark for just the eighth time in franchise history.
Henrik Lundqvist and Cam Talbot have become the third duo of goaltenders to record at least 20 victories in a season. Henrik won his 25th in the last game he played versus Florida, before he was out with his vascular injury. Cam won his 20th in this game versus the Senators. They join John Vanbiesbrouck and Mike Richter (1991-92) and Eddie Giacomin and Gilles Villemure (1970-71 to 1972-73).
The Rangers now have 47 wins on the season, which is the sixth-most all-time. They also won 47 games back in 1972-73.
The Blueshirts are now 32-0-1 when leading after two periods.

Mats Zuccarello had a goal and an assist and three blocked shots
Kevin Hayes had two assists, two shots on goal, and posted a plus 2 rating in 13:48 of ice time
Tanner Glass scored his first goal of the season, with two shots on goal and posted a plus 1 rating in 12:27 of ice time
Keith Yandle had an assist, two shots on goal, two blocked shots and posted a plus 2 rating in 16:34 of ice time
Rick Nash had an assist, three shots on goal and posted a plus 3 rating in 14:21 of ice time

The Rangers now have a record of 47-19-7 for 101 points and have the best record in the NHL. The Blueshirts are in first place in the Metropolitan Division, the Eastern Conference and the entire league.
They are 8 points ahead of the Islanders with 2 games in hand
They are 10 points ahead of the Penguins with 1 game in hand
They are 11 points ahead of the Caps with 1 game in hand

In the East, they are 1 point ahead of Montreal with 2 games in hand
They are 2 points ahead of Tampa Bay with 2 games in hand

In the League, they are tied in points with Anaheim, but have less losses (19 to 22) and have 3 games in hand
They are 1 point ahead of Nashville with 2 games in hand
They are 2 points ahead of St. Louis with 1 game in hand