Rangers Open Series With A Case Of Whoop-Ass

Welcome to the Eastern Conference Finals!  The Montreal Canadiens did something that they hadn't done much of in these playoffs in Game One against the New York Rangers and that was making the visitors feel at home in their own building.

The rocking Bell Centre didn't dissuade the visiting Blueshirts from playing some uptempo hockey, taking the game to the hosts, who have been rather inhospitable in the two previous series in these playoffs.

The Rangers hit the scoresheet early on Carey Price and the Canadiens, scoring twice before the 7-minute mark of the game.  They took the 2-0 lead into the 2nd period, where the Habs made it a game at 2-1, but that was as close as they would come.  A couple of late 2nd period goals from Chris Kreider and Brad Richards made it 4-1 and that forced Price from the net, as he didn't come out for the 3rd period.  Peter Budaj came on in relief and that didn't seem to help out the cause, as the Rangers continued to steam roll across the ice, scoring three more times in the first five minutes of the final frame, leading the way to a 7-2 victory.

If you banked on the Rangers at all in these playoffs, you probably came away with a reasonable handful of points.  Ryan McDonagh led the way from the blueline, scoring a goal and adding 3 assists for a 4-point afternoon.  Mats Zuccarello also added a goal and 2 assists, while Martin St. Louis, Rick Nash, Derek Stepan and Henrik Lundqvist all came away with a couple points each.

One injury note from Game One, as Rangers Box 18 forward Derrick Brassard left the game with an upper-body injury and his immediate status was labeled as day-to-day.  Brassard was hit by Montreal's Mike Weaver in the 1st period, forcing him from the game and his status for Game Two is considered to be questionable/doubtful.  Brassard was taken four times in the hockey pool this year, including by our pool leader, Dale B..

Game Two of the series will go on Monday night, 6pm MT on CBC.

The offensive explosion from the Rangers changed the landscape of the money positions a little bit, as the have's and the have not's were separated immediately.  Dale B. increased his lead to 6 points, sitting at 198 points.  Don D.'s second team didn't register a point, but still has a tie-breaker to sit in 2nd place with 192 points, tied with Corey M., who picked up a couple points in this one.  A new team joined the money, as Gus M.'s first team had a big game, moving into 4th with 188 points, 3 points better than Tom H., who fell into 5th, failing to register a point in Game One.

Game-Winning Goals
We haven't really had a look at the bonus points in a little while, so we'll have a quick peek at those right now, shall we?

First of all, the bonus point from Game One between the Rangers and the Canadiens was lifted from the pool, scored by non-pool player, Chris Kreider.  Disappointing, but it happens.

Don D.'s second team continues to lead the pool with 19 bonus points, which has been one of the leading reasons his team has been able to stay near the top of the standings.  Sheldon M. sits in 2nd in the column with 16 and then Don's first team has 14.  Only 14 out of the 47 teams have 10 or more bonus points thus far in the pool, which seems awfully low.