NEW YORK — The Rangers fixed their start. They couldn’t execute a perfect ending, but they got it close enough to give the dressing room, and perhaps management, an exhale-worthy win against Montreal.
Their losing streak — which felt even more dire after word leaked that Chris Drury reached out to teams about making trades and mentioned Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba by name — is over at five games.
“Winning is hard; it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, what point in the season,” Kreider said after the 4-3 victory. “A gutsy win and hopefully a step in the right direction.”
New York blew a two-goal lead in the third period, but a Kaapo Kakko power-play goal saved them with 22 seconds remaining. Zac Jones backhanded a pass through the crease, and Will Cuylle grabbed it after it went off a Montreal stick. He skated forward, hoping to pull goalie Sam Montembeault’s attention away from Kakko stationed next to the net. It worked: He backhanded a pass to the Finnish winger, who buried it.
“Sometimes when you’re trying to get out of something, that first one that you get out of might not be the prettiest. It wasn’t tonight,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “You just pull all (the positive) things out of it and continue to work your way out.”
KAAPO KAKKO IS CLUTCH!!!
He gets the game winner with 23 seconds left! @NYRangers | #NYR | #NHLNShowcase pic.twitter.com/tjCfzEv4gr
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) November 30, 2024
Here are six takeaways from the eventful win.
A fighting start
Captain Jacob Trouba, who has struggled of late and recently heard his name in trade rumors for the second time in six months, fought Montreal’s Josh Anderson early in Saturday’s game. The Canadiens presumably wanted New York’s captain to answer the bell for a hit he made earlier this season on Justin Barron, and he obliged.
The Rangers approved, with Laviolette calling it “a message from him that he was here to play.”
“There was a lot of energy after that,” Chris Kreider said. “That’s our leader stepping up and doing whatever it takes.”
“I think that was something we needed,” Kakko added. “We’ve been pretty bad lately. … You’ve got to do something, and he’s our captain, he’s our leader. That’s something to get the guys going.”
Shortly after Trouba’s fight, Kreider drew a holding penalty. Entering Saturday, New York had drawn only 12 penalties over their previous eight games, which Laviolette said pregame comes from the team not playing with as much speed or possession. The early power play was a good sign for New York.
“North, fast, confrontational,” Kreider said of the team’s play style. “You’re not going to draw a lot of penalties if you don’t have the puck and you’re chasing, so we did a better job of not chasing.”
The Rangers caught a break midway through the power play when Montreal’s Mike Matheson threw a puck over the glass while attempting to clear it. That gave New York a five-on-three advantage, and Artemi Panarin capitalized. The wing pinpointed a shot over Montembeault’s glove and in.
Matheson got the goal back later in the period, but Vincent Trocheck — who had only two goals and zero assists his previous 11 games before Saturday — tipped in an Alexis Lafrenière shot with four seconds left in the period. The Rangers finished the frame with 59.28 percent of the expected goal share, according to Natural Stat Trick.
“To get in a fight like Jacob did, to get on the attack, to play sharp defensively, to be physical in the battles, it was a good start,” Laviolette said. “I’d like to see us continue more of that as the game wore on.”
The Rangers had entered the first intermission either trailing or tied in their previous nine games. Saturday was the first time they had a lead after the first period since Nov. 9 in Detroit. New York also limited Montreal to only seven shots in the first period — a drastic improvement from recent games.
Kreider, Chytil return
Kreider missed the previous three games with back problems, and Chytil had missed seven games with an upper-body injury after a collision with K’Andre Miller. Chytil has a history of concussions, including one last season that cost him most of the year, but medical consultation outside the Rangers’ organization determined he did not have one from the Miller collision, The Athletic and other outlets reported Nov. 19.
Chytil called it “not an easy time” when asked if he was concerned he had another head injury. He did not delve into specifics about his injury.
“I know my body,” he said. “I know what’s going on, even with my head. With what I went through last year as well, there have been hard moments. I say all the time: I’m saying positive in every situation where I am. When there is an opportunity to be back and my whole body feels great, I jump back in.”
“There was a lot of talking with trainers,” he continued later in his media availability. “I know myself, I know my head a lot. Nobody knows it more than myself. When I felt it could be better and it was going well, it was nice but the most important (thing) is you’ve got to feel 100 percent.”
Chytil played the center more than 16 minutes, above his season average of 13:40.
Chippiness throughout
The Trouba fight wasn’t the end of extracurricular activities between the Canadiens and Rangers. Sam Carrick wanted to fight Arber Xhekaj after the Montreal defenseman laid a big hit on Alexis Lafrenière. Xhekaj didn’t engage, so Carrick went to the box for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Anderson, who had already fought Trouba, took a roughing minor in the second. That call was on the questionable side; he seemed to have made a pretty standard hit on Ryan Lindgren into the boards.
More fireworks came late in the second. Kirby Dach shoved Zibanejad into Jonathan Quick after the goalie made a save. Quick was not pleased. He popped up and hit Dach with a hard shove. Chaos ensued everywhere else. Will Cuylle and Juraj Slafkovský split off for a tussle, and both wound up on the ice at various points. David Savard threw a couple of jabs at Ryan Lindgren, and Xhekaj got tangled with Brett Berard and then later Cuylle. He received two roughing minors on the play, sending New York to the power play.
The officials took a chunk of time to decide on the penalties and never announced it over their microphones. The public address announcer did, though, and received a big cheer when he said Quick’s name.
Even Adam Fox got involved, laying three hits against Montreal. He had only 12 all year entering the game.
“The big emphasis was speed, compete, physicality,” Cuylle said. “We kind of harp on those every game. As we get more desperate, we try to bring more of that. Try to bring as much of that as you can.”
Imperfect ending
The Rangers had under 35 percent of the five-on-five expected goal share throughout the final two periods, according to Natural Stat Trick, and got out-chanced by Montreal. Laviolette in particular wasn’t thrilled with the third period.
“I thought we controlled the rush better tonight, but I thought when pucks were in question we got on the wrong side of things,” the coach said. “That led to chances and opportunities back for them.”
Down 3-1 early in the third, Montreal’s top line generated a Cole Caufield goal after New York failed to get the puck out of the defensive zone. Nearly 10 minutes later, Nick Suzuki scored the equalizer when New York once again struggled to break out and got caught too high in the defensive zone.
Strong special teams showing
The Panarin goal broke a 0-for-12 streak on the power play. Zibanejad continued the special teams momentum in the second. He tricked Savard with a fake one-timer, then wristed a puck into the net with Kreider screening. The goal was Zibanejad’s first on the power play all year. Kreider had screens on both the Panarin and Zibanejad goals, which Laviolette praised postgame.
“I thought we shot the puck, which helps,” Kreider said. “I do think we need to move a little faster, especially against the way that they kill, but we shot the puck. Good things happen when we shoot the puck.”
Then, of course, came Kakko’s goal on the late power play, which came after Dach high-sticked Zibanejad and drew blood. New York caught a break shortly before Kakko scored as Cuylle got away with the trip on Joel Armia.
“Everything happens pretty quick out there,” Cuylle said of the play. “Puck battle. Trying to get loose.”
The Rangers’ penalty kill was also successful, stopping all three of Montreal’s power plays and allowing only four total shots.
“Special teams can definitely change the direction of the game,” Laviolette said. “They did tonight.”
Smith scratched
When Drury traded a 2027 second-round pick and a 2025 fifth-round pick for Reilly Smith, he likely didn’t envision the veteran winger being a healthy scratch a quarter of the way into the season. But with Filip Chytil and Chris Kreider re-entering the lineup, Laviolette decided to sit the veteran winger, as well as Jonny Brodzinski.
Smith, brought in with homes that he could be the missing link on the Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad line, has 12 points in 21 games. New York has been out-scored and out-chanced with him on the ice at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Rangers have 46.55 percent of the five-on-five expected goal share with him on the ice this season. In fairness to Smith, the Rangers have worse expected goals metrics with Kreider and Zibanejad on the ice than they do with him.
(Photo: John Jones / Imagn Images)