Game 76: Rangers vs. Habs

FIRST PERIOD:

- Who picked up tickets for this game a few months ago hoping to see Carey Price against Herik Lundqvist? Joke's on you.

- Hey, Therrien's coaching his 750th NHL Game. Congrats, coach! YOU HAVE SIX LEFT.

- Haha. Emelin decides to go for a stupid hit on Stepan, which sets the table for a Rangers break, Miller making Markov look bad, Condon look even worse. Bush league play. 1-0 Rangers.

- Andrei Markov apparently gives zero ducks. The way Miller skated around him to score that goal, it sure looked that way.

- Habs defence looks completely disinterested tonight. Team looks like they're more or less mired in resigned depression. Totally playing out the string, and the Rangers are going to eat them alive tonight.

- Erik Staal has been pretty much a total disaster since getting traded for before the deadline. Tonight might be his night when he actually scores. Condon with a desperate save off Staal courtesy some pretty chaotic Canadiens zone coverage off the Rangers rush keeps him off the board - for now.

- Eller is one of the few Habs players seemingly out there giving an effort, and he's rewarded with a goal off a nifty slot shot. Great work and awareness by Lars off some pretty lazy defence by McDonagh, and Habs tie the game. For now.

- Rangers with a pretty aggressive attack, perhaps believing there are many goals to be had off this super-soft and incredibly disorganized Habs defence. Can't blame them for thinking that - though it could present the Habs with some odd-man breaks as the game progresses.

- Desharnais continues to play some pretty atrocious hockey since returning from IR. Passing is totally off the mark, effort appears to be either half-hearted, or he's lost a step with skating speed. In any case, if the Habs need a good look at someone long overdue for a contract buyout, they're getting a pretty good answer in spades.

- Minor miracle Habs are tied on the scoreboard after that period of play, mostly dominated by an aggressive New York attack, and with chaotic Montreal defence to boot. Everything is pointing towards an (eventual) lopsided final score.


SECOND PERIOD:

- Habs and Rangers after 20 minutes. Pretty brutal period for the have, with the SA CF just barely 32%. David Desharnais came in just over 14%, which is pretty atrocious, but is still better than his game against the Ducks, where he was just over 8%. A veritable disaster on skates.

- Are you still watching? Kreider with 3 points in the period, and counting, two goals, Rangers ahead 4-1. Emelin awful, the same old Habs story. But, as expected, the scoreboard total after 1 period was a mirage - New York destroying their opponent tonight. As expected.

- Condon has been pretty bad, but his teammates haven't been much better, and in some instances, much worse. Basically this is a team that finds a new way of embarrassing itself each and every game.

- If this were a basketball game, the Rangers would be the Harlem Globetrotters. Oh wait, Montreal jus scored. Danault.

- Bad news on that Danault goal, Desharnais picked up the assist, which means he'll undoubtably be promoted, and the coach can now tell everyone "I was right about Davey."

- That goal was an aberration, of course. Rangers have held the puck almost exclusively on one side of the ice for most of this period, most of this game. Galchenyuk line in particular is getting routed by line matching.

- Emelin with a stupid cross check, Rangers convert on the powerplay, 5-2. Abysmal.

- Nothing to say. I'm sticking with my earlier prediction as such:

I'm thinking ... 5 .. 6 ... maybe 7 to 1, for the Rangers tonight?

— A.J. Bassett (@HabsGameBlog) March 26, 2016

THIRD PERIOD:

Really no point in going through this period, Habs well on their way to another bad loss. Interesting to note that the Galchenyuk line is indeed having a tough night, Torrey Mitchell is again getting leading ice time (for whatever reason), and Emelin is well on his way to a 26+ minute TOI evening, because ???... Here's the (rather awful) 2nd period chart:

- Therrien puts Ben Scrivens in for the third, just to spread the abuse around a little bit.


GAMEDAY NEWS 'N' NOTES:

Sevens games to go. We're almost there. A few lineup notes tonight, Sven Adrighetto is back in the lineup tonight, which means Jacob De La Rose will be a heathy scratch. P.K. Subban also won't be playing, but Mike Brown will. Oh well.

Habs sit one point ahead of the Arizona Coyotes, so there's something on the line tonight. As in, we're hoping for a loss, and an Arizona win. Desharnais back at centre again certainly won't hurt in meeting that goal.

Here's the Habs liens:

Pacioretty/Galchenyuk/Byron
Eller/Pekanec/Mitchell
Danault/Desharnais/Andrighetto
Matteau/McCarron/Brown

Puck drops at 7:15 EST.