Rangers Clinch Playoffs With 9 Remaining
Going into last night’s game, the Rangers needed two points to clinch their first playoff appearance since 2016-17 – the Play-in series of the shortened 2019-20 excluded. By contrast, Ottawa had already been eliminated, and were playing out what they hope will be their last reboulding season for a while.
The difference was clear, as the Rangers rebounded from a 1-0 deficit to reel off five unanswered goals, and seal their spot in the post season. Artemi Panarin was pivotal in the game, scoring the Rangers’ first goal, and then setting up both Andrew Copp to make it 2-1 and later to feed Ryan Strome in front to make it 4-1. Chris Kreider chimed in with two goals of his own to round out the 5-1 score for the game, scoring both his goals off the rush.