A Two Minute Lapse Sink Rangers against Ottawa

(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

The NY Rangers were awarded the President’s Trophy for the best record in the 2014-15 season. Then with nothing else to play for, took the ice against the Ottawa Senators who needed a win to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The game started off very one-sided, as the Broadway Blueshirts dominated the game. In fact, at one point in the first, the Rangers led in shots 7-1. But they could not solve the puzzle that was Andrew Hammond.

A scoreless first period turned into a scoreless second period until Ottawa pushed the play deep into the Rangers zone. There the puck was brought out from behind the net by Mark Stone and passed out to Clarke MacArthur, who one-timed it past the glove side of Henrik Lundqvist, who truly had to chance at all.

Then less than a minute later, the Senators won a face-off and the shot was taken by Eric Gryba, which seemed to bounce up off the ice and hit one and possibly two Senators before it bounced over Lundqvist. It was a very strange goal indeed.

Right before that, Kevin Hayes caught a great pass from J.T. Miller, but could not lift the puck over Hammond’s stacked pads and was stopped cold.

The third was scoreless, as Henrik held the fort and the Rangers kept as much pressure as they could on Hammond, but could not score. Alain Vigneault pulled Henrik with about three minutes left, but the Senators added an empty net goal to make it 3-0.

Scoring:

OTT: Clarke MacArthur (16) Assisted by Mark Stone & Kyle Turris

OTT: Kyle Turris (24) Assisted by Clarke MacArthur & Eric Gryba

OTT: Jean-Gabriel Pageau (9) ENG: Assisted by Curtis Lazar & Mark Borowiecki

Goalie Stats:

Andrew Hammond: 26 Saves on 26 Shots for a SV% of 1.000

Henrik Lundqvist: 24 Saves on 26 Shots for a SV% of .923

Team Stats                              OTT                              NYR

Shots on Goal                         27                                  26

Power Play                              0 for 2                           0 for 2

Hits                                         25                                  19

Face Off Wins                        27                                  22

Giveaways                              1                                    7

Takeaways                             7                                    4

Blocked Shots                         18                                  5

3 Stars of the Game:

3^rd Star: Kyle Turris: 1 Goal and 1 Assist

2^nd Star: Clarke MacArthur: 1 Goal and 1 Assist

1^st Star: Andrew Hammond: 26 Saves on 26 Shots for a SV% of 1.000

Broadway Bits:

The Rangers recalled F Ryan Bourque, son of Hall of Fame D Ray Bourque to fill in for Rick Nash, and make his NHL debut. D Chris Summers was also recalled by the Rangers, to fill in for Marc Staal. James Sheppard was filling in for the second game in a row for Mats Zuccarello. Zucc, Nash and Staal were all given the game off to gain just one more day of much needed rest.

Rick Nash became the eighth player in Ranger history to be awarded the Ranger MVP Award and the Player’s Player Award.

The Ranger MVP Award is voted on by the NY Media. The Player’s Player Award is voted on by the Ranger team themselves.

The only other Rangers to win the two awards in the same season were: John Vanbiesbrouck, James Patrick, Adam Graves, Mark Messier, Mike Richter, Brian Leetch and Ryan McDonagh

Before the game, the President’s Trophy was awarded to Captain Ryan McDonagh, as the NY Rangers will finish the 2014-15 Regular Season with the best record and most points in the league.

Upon the conclusion of the game, the Ranger players took the shirts off their backs and presented them to some very lucky fans. Every Ranger autographed their jersey before presenting it to that lucky fan.

The Ranger Penalty Kill was sharp again and went 2 for 2 against the Senators

Ryan Bourque had a shot on goal and recorded a takeaway in 11:49 of ice time in his NHL debut

Chris Summers had five hits and recorded a blocked shot in 18:32 of ice time

Ryan McDonagh had three shots on goal, two hits, one takeaway and one blocked shot while skating in a team-high 23:15 of ice time

With nothing else to play for except setting two Ranger records, the Rangers travel to Washington to play the Caps on Saturday afternoon. Face off is scheduled for 12:30PM

If the Rangers win on Saturday, they will set a new record with their 53^rd win of the season. One point in an OT or SO loss and the Rangers tie the 1993-94 team with 112 points. Any kind of victory for the Rangers and they will set a new record with their 113^th point of the season.

The 2014-15 NHL Playoffs will begin on Wednesday April 15