Rangers no match for Habs

December 4, 2008   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

It was a mismatch from the beginning. A night removed from a solid comeback win over the Pens on home ice, a weary Ranger club didn’t offer much in Montreal getting blitzed 6-2.

The more rested Canadiens who won their third straight were much quicker on the puck and attacked with vigor getting rewarded by scoring three on a helpless Henrik Lundqvist in a first period barrage and the first four overall.

Andrei Kostitsyn struck first converting off a give and go with Matt D’Agostini working it perfectly tipping one home at 9:52. Andrei Markov started the play with a nice outlet for Kostitsyn notching the secondary assist.

Before the Rangers knew what hit them, they trailed by a pair only 55 seconds later when Montreal took advantage of an awful Dmitri Kalinin pinch turning it into an odd-man rush with Steve Begin getting a piece of Maxim Lapierre’s shot at 10:47. Noted tough guy Georges Laraque, who heard cheers from the partisan crowd earned the first of two helpers as the Habs’ fourth line provided offense in the rout.

For some inexplicable reason, Ranger coach Tom Renney didn’t use his timeout even if the team was on its collective heels and could’ve used a breather.

The brutal period continued when some great passing down low resulted in an empty net goal for Alex Tanguay with Lundqvist down and out increasing the deficit to three. By the end of the first, they’d been outshot 15-7 angering their bread and butter enough to say something to Renney. Could it have been about the lack of support?

Montreal padded the lead when Lapierre rebounded home a Begin shot 3:35 into the second. The goal stood despite Begin nudging into Lundqvist giving him no opportunity to make the save. Isn’t that what the incidental contact rule is for? Heck. It could’ve even been goalie interference. But as he pointed out earlier this season, he doesn’t embellish plays to draw penalties.

Suddenly, the Blueshirts were in a four-goal hole trying to make a comeback similar to the one the Habs had when they fought back from five down last February pulling out a 6-5 shootout win.

Wednesday’s hero Petr Prucha injected some life when he dropped the gloves with Lapierre. A couple of minutes later, Markus Naslund tipped home his club-leading 10th on the power play to get the Rangers on the board at 13:02. Paul Mara and Scott Gomez assisted.

The Rangers’ momentum continued late in the stanza when following a Chris Drury backcheck, they went three-on-two the other way before Nikolai Zherdev found an open Nigel Dawes for a tap-in at 18:43 cutting the margin in half. Dawes was playing in place of injured Blair Betts.

But the comeback was shortlived. Following a near miss by Zherdev, the Canadiens came the other way and got a backbreaking goal when Markov took an Alex Kovalev feed and found Robert Lang all alone for a tap-in 49 seconds into the third.

In the final minute, D’Agostini scored his second on a wrister unassisted concluding the scoring on a night the Canadiens honored one of their Original Six rivals due to the Centennial Season in club history.

Three Stars:

3rd Star-Andrei Markov, Mtl (two assists, 2 SOG, plus-three in 22:39)

2nd Star-Matt D’Agostini, Mtl (goal, assist, 6 SOG, plus-two in 15:53)

1st Star-Maxim Lapierre, Mtl (goal, assist, 2 SOG, fight, plus-one in 12:07)

Notes: Betts satout with an ankle injury after taking a hit from a Pen in the corner. … D Wade Redden left the game early in the second with a lower body injury playing only 8:36 finishing minus-two. The Rangers have used only six defensemen the entire season. … Gomez and Naslund were each minus-four. … Rangers (18-9-2, 38 Pts) next host the Flames on Sunday night at the Garden.