NYR/MTL 4/2 Review: Canadiens Beat Blueshirts; Hab Fans Rename M$G to “Montreal $quare Garden” Too, J.T. Miller Wins / “Buys” Rod Gilbert Award; Dangerous FAT CAT Only Precedent Set, Caufield Dazzles; Maloney Calls Out Both Captain Culture & Silly Sully, What Nobody Is Talking About After The Loss, Six Games Remain – And Who Should Start Them, Bring Back Edstrom, M$GN & More

Greetings and salutations everyone and welcome to another blog here on BlueCollarBlueShirts.com. Only six more games left of this nonsense!

And I can’t believe that I’ve made it here either – as previously – and as first stated in this space during last summer – and I debated about taking a year off from what I predicted to be a god-awful Rangers’ season.

But don’t fret yet folks – Kenny Albert has been diligently informing us, and for the past three-weeks at that, that both M$G and the Rangers are now selling newly released merchandise – and courtesy of Mark Messier’s “GAME SEVEN” company.

How about first winning seven games straight – and as the Canadiens did on Thursday night – before promoting a “GAME SEVEN” clothing line?

There was a lot of post-game reaction to another Rangers’ loss – and where the bulk of it was centered around what happened with just 5:05 remaining in regulation during a tied 2-2 game.

Prior to Cole Caufield scoring his 49th goal of the season – and another game-winner for the league-leader in this department (12), then linesman Dan Kelly, with just 5:13 left to play, was due to drop a puck between the two captains from either side – J.T. Miller and Nick Suzuki.

Suzuki not only cheated on this defensive draw for the Canadiens – but Kelly also dropped the puck right to him.

Rather to blow his whistle after this human error (and as usually is the case) – and instead – Kelly let them play on.

As Captain Culture was complaining to Kelly about the misplaced puck (and where Miller was correct – Kelly loused up), the Canadiens, and just like the zebras, continued to play on themselves.

While granted, Miller probably wouldn’t have had a good shot to get back and play defense (and where Dave Maloney, and accurately at that, was calling out his captain peer for both crying to the officials and for exhibiting bad body language for seemingly the 7986786679698th time this season) – and blammo – there it was – Caufield, after receiving the puck from Mike Matheson – just blew by the entire Rangers’ defense – and come the end of it – the two Russians too – Vladislav Gavrikov and CZAR IGOR – for the 3-2 game-winner.

It was all that everybody could talk about following the game too – and the first question asked to Miller, who earlier in the night, paid for this year’s Mr. Ranger (Rod Gilbert) Award (more below):

“I don’t want to talk about it,” said Miller. “There’s a lot that goes on in the game. I have a lot of respect for [linesman] Dan [Kelly]. I’ve known him a long time. It’s a moment that nobody wanted to have for me and him and sorry, we’ll leave it at that.”

While some people are admonishing Miller for both the play and his refusal to answer the question asked upon him – but to me – then I understood where he was coming from.

He didn’t want to say anything bad about Kelly.

Furthermore, then everyone is also ignoring what led up prior to this eventual game-winner for Montreal – as it just wasn’t one bad puck drop.

Far from it.

As it usually is – and the Rangers just didn’t challenge another weak goalie on this night – this time, Jacob Fowler.

I’ll have all of the SOG minute-per-minute breakdowns for you below in the GAME REVIEW segment; but the Rangers were out-shot 8-7 in the first period – and where they picked up three of these SOG during the final thirty-seconds of that frame which in turn – just artificially enhanced their total.

The Canadiens, who scored two goals in the second period, saw the Rangers with only two SOG at the time. By the time the second intermission rolled around and the Habs had out-shot their “visiting” opponents by a tally of 11-5.

The Rangers, who decided to wake up in the third period, out-shot their one-night-only home tenants by a 12-6 margin – but once again – and it was just too little, too late, for Silly Sully’s Squad.

Overall and the Canadiens out-shot the Rangers 25-24 – so to just look at these black-and-white stats doesn’t tell the whole story.

For me, then this game was lost for the Blueshirts in the first period.

At the 7:21 mark, Juraj “Shane Wright Who?” Slafkovsky high-sticked Gavrikov – and drew blood too.

For the next four-minutes, then the Rangers had an uninterrupted power-play.

And by now, you already know – they didn’t score on it.

As I always say on this site, then if you can’t score on a double-minor power-play, a five-minute major power-play or during a 2:00 5 x 3 attack – then you deserve to lose.

And that’s just what the Blueshirts eventually did – but they did throw in some hope spots later on – and where once again – and the Rangers did what they do best – they crushed your dreams of winning a game!

That is – for the NON TANK CROWD!

As know, then SPECIAL TEAMS SWING GAMES.

The Rangers’ power-play concluded the night by going 0/3, but where to be fair, then Montreal was no better, going 0/2 themselves.

After the Canadiens’ penalty kill was through, then, and as it always goes, and they got a power-play themselves – as Noah Laba hooked Oliver Kapanen at the 11:49 mark.

Scoreless after these two Montreal man-up minutes, then eventually scoreless come the horn – then both teams entered the second period with a nil-nil tie.

The Habs, starting at the 4:36 mark, then ending at the 6:20 mark, soon scored a pair of goals within 1:44 of game time.

Alex Newhook, following a turnover from Conor Sheary, opened the scoring with a blast from the top of the circle.

1-0, Habs.

Cole Caufield scored the second Montreal goal with a hell of a shot from right in the middle of the dot to the left of CZAR IGOR.

This goal was the end result of what we saw all game – long Habitant attacks, a few Ranger icings sandwiched in-between – and boom – rinse-wash-repeat.

It wasn’t until there was 10:37 left to play in regulation time, the third period, when the Blueshirts finally broke-up Fowler’s shutout bid.

Adam Fox made the game 2-1 during a mad panic play at Fowler’s net.

Will Cuylle, who entered the contest with a thirteen-game goal drought, made it rain with only 5:52 remaining – a rebound goal on a JONNY BROADWAY rebound afforded.

2-2 – so despite everything – and the Rangers, and again, mainly due to CZAR IGOR, had made a game out of this.

Some 47-seconds after the Blueshirts’ equalizer?

Caufield.

3-2.

See ya.

That said?

Then – and despite the loss – and the Rangers did hang in there.

They also had chances to tie once more post FOXWOODS FINAL FIVE time – but Fowler and the Habs held on.

Montreal, known for their breakneck speed and pace, could never really exert such traits over the Rangers.

They pretty much capitalized on two turnovers – and then got their game-winner after the Kelly assist – and where yep – had this season mattered for the Rangers – then I’d be a whole lot more pissed-off about this misplay.

In a way and it felt like the Blueshirts, and their lack of effort, did them in more than anything else.

And there were also the curious coaching decisions too – and we’ll explore them below.

To me, and again, openly PRO TANK, then I don’t think that this was a bad loss at all.

After a week of patsies, full of both college and AHL players (Chicago, Florida and New Jersey) and the Rangers had their three-game winning streak snapped by a true playoff contender – and in a one-goal loss to boot.

If there was anything to be mad about, that is, if your team owner James Dolan; then it’s the fact that more than half the crowd was there in order to support the away team.

While that’s good for both the turnstile and concession figures; then that’s not good for the in-house team merchandise money!

And if you want Chris Drury out on his ass – then the only way for that to happen is by decreasing Dolan’s profits.

A second consecutive season without playoff gates will help this cause – but there will have to be a third in order to get someone new calling the shots.

In case you missed it, then here’s where I last left off – CZAR IGOR KO’ing Jacob Markstrom and company:

Following Tuesday Night Fights at M$G, then come Wednesday and the Rangers reconvened for practice in Tarrytown, N.Y. – and where everything remained status quo.

After the skate, the high remarks for CZAR IGOR’s sweet science ability continued and where Sullivan, when asked about who will be getting the nod in net during the final remaining games of the season, said that he’d be leaning towards his starter – while not adding much else about Dylan Garand or Jonathan Quick.

A day later, Thursday, game day, and the topic about the goaltenders remained as the top talk in town.

Sullivan confirmed that CZAR IGOR would start against Montreal, while not sharing much else about the remaining six games left on the schedule.

At this point, then it’s my opinion that both Garand and Quick should receive one more game each – and on home ice too.

Funny enough – and there are only three more home games remaining on the schedule – and it would be a shame if Ranger fans didn’t see all three goalies during this time.

OF NOTE: In case you scroll through our next regular segments – then Quick returned to the line-up tonight, as CZAR IGOR’s back-up, while Garand was made a healthy scratch.

Elsewhere, and for whatever reasons, and Sykora & Brodzinski were flip-flopped, while Edstrom remained in Sully’s doghouse.

Here’s Sully’s pregame talk from Thursday:

Here was Silly Sully’s line-up for the seventy-sixth game of this wretched-and-rotten 2025-26 season:

FIRST LINE: Perreault/Mika/Lafreniere

SECOND LINE: Kartye/Miller/Sheary

THIRD LINE: Cuylle/Trocheck/Brodzinski

FOURTH LINE: Sykora/Laba/Chmelar

FIRST PAIR: Gavrikov/Fox

SECOND PAIR: Fortescue/Schneider

THIRD PAIR: Robertson/Borgen

STARTING GOALIE: CZAR IGOR

BACKUP GOALIE: Quick

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: Iorio, Raddysh, Vaakainanen, Garand and Edstrom

IR: Matt Rempe

BOX SCORE time.

The following graphics and information come from ESPN.com:

SCORING:

PENALTIES:

TEAM STATS:

GOALIES:

Come 6:30PM, and while wondering if the Rangers would do anything for their alumni on the other side tonight – Gorton, St. Louis and Ramsay (yeah right!) – then I was elated to find out that this was going to be a broadcast devoid of Sieve Vagistat!

Once again, and for whatever reason (whether he’s on vacation or just checked out like every other resident of Rangerstown, USA) – and Henrik Lundqvist, “THE KING OF COMMENTARY,” wasn’t on M$GN airwaves.

For that matter, neither was Brian Boyle, who much like his former goalie, is a natural in the second act of his professional career.

As Starman was breaking down everything (again – he was wonderful – but it was also hard to really care because of what this team is); then one of my old “employees” from my past life as a wrestling promoter (she was an independent contractor, I just paid her about fifty times during a five-year span for her services as a superb professional wrestler), Sassy Stephanie, who relocated from Cleveland, Ohio to Montreal, Quebec over ten-years ago or so by now, was in-attendance.

Steph was part of a ten-person group that made the trip from Montreal to NYC – as just like the Bell Centre is in Canada for New Yorkers – a road-trip destination city/arena – and the same goes for M$G for our poutine pals.

Right away, and where I was talking to Steph for a few weeks leading up to the game (I told her to wait until game day to buy tickets, as the cost for ducats would drop significantly), and she told me that half of the people in-attendance were like her – fellow road-trippers from north of the border.

At one point, the best reporter on the beat today (even if he’s not full-time), Jonny Lazarus, also made notice of the large Canadian contingent at the Garden.

Here was Steph’s response:

I would say it’s more!!! There’s 10 in our group alone

— Sassy Stephie (@SassyStephie) April 2, 2026

I had to bring this up because you heard the Montrealers in the crowd all game.

When the Canadiens were on the penalty kill – then you heard loud cheers for clears.

When the Habs scored goals – and it was nearly as loud as the reaction we heard on Tuesday night – you know – when CZAR IGOR was pummeling Jacob Markstrom.

In turn, then M$GN was MONTREAL $QUARE GARDEN – and where if Dolan really wanted to take advantage – then he would’ve had Molson beer and poutine available at all of his concession stations!

As Starman was doing his thing, then I was hoping that he’d bring up the Edstrom scratch – as no one else is really talking about it.

Once Maloney & Albert entered our homes, then it was revealed, and with no promotion at all, that the Rangers would be announcing the Rod Gilbert Award prior to puck drop.

Just to say it – and as a reminder too – then don’t forget to vote for this year’s Frank Boucher Trophy winner – and check out my last blog for all of the details.

In a brief ceremony (as in only three-minutes), Judy Gilbert (widow of Rod) and Adam Graves (who also deserves his own award in his namesake) named J.T. Miller as the fifth annual winner of the Rod Gilbert Award – and where that trophy looked pretty bad ass too.

I thought that Adam Fox would win it, due to all of the charity work that he does on behalf of people suffering through ALS – including his own father-in-law.

The M$G crowd was respectful to the second-worst captain in franchise history (Drury being the worst) – and where nobody saw this coming either.

It was then revealed that Miller had made personal donation of $154,000 to the franchise’s own charity, “The Garden of Dreams.”

Two things – and where the first is the easiest to talk about.

One, I wonder what the significance was behind the $154K figure?

After all, then athletes are the most superstitious people on the planet, and very often, work their jersey number into everything that they do – including Sidney Crosby always using the number 87 in all of his contract negotiations.

The speculation among the people that know better than me is that a $154K charity donation is the maximum figure that can be deducted from your annual taxes.

Let me be clear – THIS WAS SPECULATION – AND I DON’T KNOW THIS FOR A FACT.

All I know is that the $154K figure, a hell of a donation if I say so myself, just sounded odd – as why not a clean $150K, ya know what I mean?

That’s why I believe the tax talk had merit – hence mentioning it here.

Two, I thought Miller winning this award – and solely because he made a large donation to the charity that his boss owns – was a horrible precedent to set.

I don’t want to accuse Miller of “buying” the award – but I wouldn’t discourage you from doing so either.

My biggest gripe, and again, let’s not lose sight of the fact that Miller didn’t have to do this – as this was a GOOD THING too – is the following:

Now that we know that all you have to do is make the biggest donation to Dolan’s charity in order to win this award – then moving forward – and it rules out every rookie, young player or even veterans on league-minimum contracts from ever winning it.

After all, then how can someone like a Noah Laba, making $925K this season (and where more than half of that goes to taxes – and then there is the whole cost of living in NYC factor to consider too), make a donation like Miller, with over $100M in career earnings, did?

The same goes for Gabe Perreault, Adam Sykora, Dylan Garand, Tye Kartye and you get my point.

I don’t want to take anything away from Miller – but I just don’t like the idea that this award now screams “FAT CAT EXCLUSIVE.”

I should also add, and in the effort of fairness, that if Miller was still a 100-point player – and as he was in Vancouver – then no one would be talking about “Donations For Awards” right now either.

Here’s how the Rangers covered the news, courtesy of https://www.nhl.com/rangers/news/j-t-miller-named-winner-of-fifth-annual-rod-gilbert-mr-ranger-award:

New York Rangers forward J.T. Miller has been named the recipient of the fifth annual Rod Gilbert “Mr. Ranger” Award, given to the Rangers player “who best honors Rod’s legacy by exemplifying leadership qualities both on and off the ice, and making a significant humanitarian contribution to his community.”

Named the 29th captain of the New York Rangers prior to the start of the season, Miller has proven a genuine commitment to making a positive impact in the community. In January, Miller and his wife, Natalie, donated $154,000 to the Garden of Dreams Foundation, the largest donation to Garden of Dreams made by a player in franchise history. With this donation, Garden of Dreams purchased 10 suites to invite youth from varying partner organizations, such as NYPD Widows and Children’s Fund, SCAN-Harbor, Ronald McDonald House New York, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and more, to attend New York Rangers games and to meet the Millers following the game. At the start of the season, Miller represented the Rangers at the BGC Charity Day, honoring those lost in the September 11 attacks by participating in celebrity guest calls on the trading floor, meeting fans and helping raise funds for the Garden of Dreams Foundation. Throughout the season, he has consistently been present at team community initiatives, including post-game fan meet-and-greets.

The East Palestine, Ohio native was named to the 2026 United States Men’s Hockey Team earlier this year and returned from Milan, Italy as an Olympic gold medalist. This season with the Rangers, he has registered 16 goals and 31 assists for 47 points in 61 games. He ranks third on New York in faceoff wins (489), fourth in hits (118) and fifth in points, and skated in his 900th career NHL game on Dec. 7. His 61.5 faceoff win percentage this season ranks third among all NHL skaters who have taken at least 500 faceoffs, and his 54.1 faceoff percentage is tied for seventh among all Rangers skaters who have taken 1,000 or more faceoffs in franchise history.

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To watch the brief three-minute ceremony, then check out:

GAME REVIEW time!

You know my usual spiel – which includes how if you want my complete play-by-play, then check out my Tweeter/X feed over at: https://x.com/NYCTheMiC

Let the rolling commence!

FIRST PERIOD

After Mika won the opening draw, former Islander Noah Dobson blocked a Gabe Perreault shot at just the 12-second mark.

I should note here, that we saw a lot of this tonight  – Canadiens blocking shots (they won this statistic by a 13-5 tally) – and where the Rangers only added to their self-induced misery by sending about 786786698 pucks high and/or wide.

At the 1:00 mark, Newhook, our eventual first goal scorer, went 1 x 4 against a quartet of Blueshirts – only for the Rangers to fend off this attack.

CZAR IGOR made his first save of the game at the 1:54 mark, on Kaiden Guhle, and where right afterwards, Cuylle accidentally collided with a referee.

From this point on – and Maloney & Albert, as if they were paying tribute to Sam Rosen, did Guhle/Cuylle “HA-HA-HA, THEIR NAMES SOUND ALIKE,” bits all-game.

Even 5:00 in and you could see that Montreal’s game plan was to wear down/gas out the Rangers – as while they had a lot of zone time – they weren’t shooting the puck that much either.

In turn and the Blueshirts would chase around, finally get a clear and then change – and without a sniff of their own offense either.

Down to 12:47 left to play and Lafreniere broke up a dangerous Caufield one-timed attempt – but as we all know – and the Canadien wouldn’t be denied all-game.

As we hit 12:39 remaining and with the Rangers with only one SOG to their ledger – then this is when Slafkovsky went to the box for four-minutes.

Fowler made one save during the first two-minutes, then two more during the back-half of the Rangers’ power-play.

Sheary was also stopped from point-blank range, while both Mika & Lafreniere missed the net on wide-open and glorious scoring chances.

For good measure, and Cuylle hit a post as well.

Once the Rangers killed off the Laba penalty, then during a TV timeout and Saint Graves gave Northwell Health a $125K check – as charity was the theme tonight – including the two turnovers that the Rangers gave their opponents during the second period.

CZAR IGOR, while eventually allowing two goals to Caufield, wasn’t interested in being philanthropic when he denied the Canadiens’ one-timed tap-in try – and all with the flick of his left pad.

Larry Brooks’ favorite player, Josh Anderson, soon went down after eating friendly fire – and where the never-to-be-mentioned Jim Ramsay assisted him off of the ice.

Down to 5:00 remaining and the SOG were 6-4, Montreal – and where half of Igor’s saves were of the ten-bell variety.

Two-minutes later?

And the Rangers still only one SOG while at even-strength.

Come 1:35 to go and CZAR IGOR came up with his eighth save, on the returning Anderson.

Down to thirty-seconds remaining, Fowler made three saves late – two on Cuylle, one on Sheary – and where this trio of tries all took place from just eighteen inches away.

1-1 through 20-minutes of play.

Here’s what I said at the time:

Scoreless through twenty-minutes. 1P thoughts:
— Not much going on.
— SOG 8-7 MTL – but where #NYR got three shots during the last 30 seconds. 1 5 x 5 SOG prior to that.
— Rangers’ PP 0/2, PK 1/1
— Igor has 3 excellent saves – two on screens/deflections, another a robbery…

— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) April 2, 2026

During the first intermission and Michelle Gingras interviewed J.T. Miller:

“Gilbert was an excellent player and human. This is a humble honor for me and my family [wife Natalie]. We’re fortunate to work with the families that the Garden of Dreams helps,” continued Miller. “There are a lot of things that go on outside of the world of hockey, to have a day to help them….seeing the smiles on their faces, it means the world to me and my family.”

Miller was very humble and proud whenever speaking about the award – while also routinely bringing up Gilbert’s legacy in the Big Apple.

Gingras, nor anyone else, ever asked why $154K instead of another sum.

And I just want to stress this – since I’ve already played into the accusations that Miller “bought” this award:

He was 100% genuine and sincere whenever speaking of both Gilbert and the legacy of this newly-created award.

SECOND PERIOD

After Zibanejad won the first draw of the second stanza – and we were soon fed our 9876786789678689679867986876th POLYMARKET ad of the game.

Soon enough, and I’m just waiting for Albert to ask us, “WHO WILL STICK THEIR FINGER IN THEIR ASS AND SNIFF IT FIRST IN THE METROSEXUAL DIVISION?”

At the 2:19 mark, CZAR IGOR denied another one-timer- this time from the slot off of the stick of Lane Hutson.

Up next saw a funny bit following a scrum featuring Vincent Trocheck and Will Cuylle against Ivan Demidov and Arber Xhekaj.

Maloney, while talking about the rearguard in Montreal known as “WIFI,” remarked, “hell of a scrabble word!”

John Giannone then told us what the point score would be on Xhekaj’s last name (I think it was 28-points) – and where he was quick to note that the number didn’t include double-letter points, triple-word scores and other such bonuses.

And when I’m talking about this – then it tells you how riveting this game was at the time!

After such tom-foolery (but this was really entertaining – and it was all off-the-cuff/natural too), and this is when Newhook, after a Rangers’ d-zone faceoff win followed by a Sheary turnover, scored his goal:

Alex Newhook breaks open the scoring in the 2nd period 🔥 pic.twitter.com/6Qx898VfZw

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 3, 2026

1-0, Habs.

Right after that, another long Montreal attack, a Rangers’ icing, a Wifi hit on Schneider and a wide-open Caufield for the 2-0, Habs, goal – and his 48th of the season too:

48 GOALS FOR COLE CAUFIELD 👀 pic.twitter.com/bhWsfIqPvy

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 3, 2026

Most impressive about this goal?

What Maloney and Albert said about it afterwards:

Of Caufield’s 48 (and then soon-to-be 49) goals – and none of them are from the realm of empty net.

WOW.

And when he later had a chance to go for a clean 50 via a potential hat trick with the Rangers net empty?

Then MSL wouldn’t oblige – as he didn’t want to run the risk of having this game spill into overtime – a potential result of putting the more offensive Caufield out there instead of someone that was more reliable defensively.

As Montreal $quare Garden was going nuts – then another result of this score?

The Habs had two goals at the time, while the Rangers only had two shots on goal.

Down to 10:48 remaining and Borgen entered the sin bin after high-sticking Bolduc.

CZAR IGOR stopped Caufield once more and eventually, the Rangers’ penalty kill finished as 2/2.

Come 7:30 remaining?

And the Rangers, so prone to this, were now on another SOG drought of over ten-minutes long.

Montreal gave their opponents their third power-play of the game with 6:19 (Rey Mysterio) remaining, and for Sieve Vagistat’s favorite infraction as well – “too many men.”

Sheary missed a wide-open net, Evans almost scored while short-handed and then Fowler finally made his first save in over twelve-minutes – after denying a Fox-to-Lafreniere deflection try.

End result?

An 0/3 Rangers’ power-play.

Come 3:00 left on the clock and CZAR IGOR stopped a tic-tac-toe Caufield one-timed try.

In the other end, and just a minute later, and Miller passed over (maybe for Passover) a great scoring chance, as instead, he opted to force a pass to nowhere.

Two-zip, Montealers, after forty-minutes.

Here’s what I said at the time:

2-0, MTL, after 40. 2P Thoughts:
— Montreal $quare Garden is getting what they want – a two-goal lead and a shutout from Fowler.
— #NYR finally playing a playoff team, and while not exposed really, you can see the difference too.
— SOG 19-12, “visitors.” 5 of #NYR‘s shots…

— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) April 3, 2026

THIRD PERIOD

We can fast-forward through a lot of this – and where again – then if you want my full play-by-play, then check out: https://x.com/NYCTheMiC

Simply put – and not much went down – that is – until the Rangers scored their pair of goals.

However, it must be mentioned that prior to the two red-light jobs, and Maloney was teeing off on Sullivan for not giving the fourth line, the rookies, the Wolf Pack trio, more time in the game.

Maloney would continue on with this point (and he was spot-on too), even mentioning that where in a game where both speed and energy was required – and Sully was limiting himself from doing so.

At the 4:10 mark, CZAR IGOR stopped Caufield, twice at that, while at his doorstep.

I thought that CZAR IGOR should’ve just dropped the gloves with Caufield at this time – just so that we could hear the few Ranger fans voices in-attendance.

No joke?

Then you heard plenty of “GO HABS GO” chants all-game.

Such chants were silenced with 10:37 remaining – and as a result of Fox’s 2-1 goal:

Adam Fox makes it a 2-1 game in the 3rd period. pic.twitter.com/2NU6OQWMaS

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 3, 2026

Previously this season, and the Rangers erased a pair of two-goal deficits en-route to one-goal victories (4-3 on 10/18 and 5-4 on 12/13) against Montreal – and Canadien fans were also keenly aware of this fact.

At this juncture in the match and Montreal had to watch out – because they didn’t put this game away like they should have – and in turn – risked another loss to the worst team in the Eastern Conference.

Such fears amplified with 5:52 remaining – Cuylle’s 2-2 rebound goal:

Will Cuylle TIES the game for the Rangers late in the 3rd. pic.twitter.com/vJo9an6p1k

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 3, 2026

MSL took his timeout here – as he debated about using his coach challenge, in order to challenge the goal for goaltender’s interference.

I was kind of surprised that he didn’t, because after all, then what was the worst that could happen?

The Rangers going 0/4 instead of 0/3 on the power-play?

MSL’s refusal to run the risk of going a man-down then quickly paid off – Caufield’s 3-2 game-winner:

HE DOESN’T STOP SCORING 🤯

COLE CAUFIELD HAS 49 GOALS. pic.twitter.com/ZILvcpZFpH

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 3, 2026

What you heard at the Garden in real-time?

A whole lot of loud French accents screaming “GO HABS GO” again.

Gavrikov almost scored a 3-3 goal with 3:00 remaining – but no dice.

The Rangers, while attacking for 70-seconds, then pulled CZAR IGOR with 2:00 remaining on the clock.

Lafreniere was blocked, Trocheck was stopped, Suzuki missed an empty net and Fowler then stopped Cuylle with 58.9 seconds to go – and where afterwards – Sullivan used his timeout.

During the timeout, then this is when Maloney really ripped into Miller for his bad body language and pouting to the officials.

While the linesman was wrong – Maloney wasn’t.

You just gotta play until you hear the whistle.

Fowler survived a final scramble with three-seconds remaining and that was that.

Montreal 3, New York 2.

A win for the tankers!

Up Next For The Rangers: I ran down the entire remainder of the schedule on this site on Tuesday night, but it’s a pair of back-to-backs – Saturday, a 12:30PM matinee against Detroit – followed by an Easter Sunday night showdown with Washington.

The Red Wings, no stranger to the Rangers this season, are fighting for their playoff lives.

As noted earlier, then I don’t care who starts these final three home games – but as long as all three goalies get one more game each.

All three deserve their flowers – and most especially Jonathan Quick – who as we all know – could retire come season’s end.

Up Next For Me: I really don’t know!

As always, then I’ll be watching every game over the weekend, but between a potential bar outing on Saturday followed by a family dinner on Sunday – then there’s a chance that I might not return until Monday with a “catch-up” blog.

If I’m here Saturday, then that means I slept in/went out on Friday night!

If I’m here late Sunday night – then I deserve the Steve McDonald Extra Effort Award.

Either way?

I shall return soon enough – and where I can’t wait for this crappy centennial season to end too!

And what a segue-way to our favorite, and closing, segment – you know….

PLUGS TIME! (Buy a book and support my Rangers’ induced therapy bills. After all, I don’t run ads on this site!)

My fourth title and tenth book is now available!

“The Top 100 Villains of New York Rangers History,” is now available for sale!

For complete information, please visit: https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/rangerkillers/

My second plug of tonight’s blog – the mandatory plug for my book, “The New York Rangers Rink of Honor and the Rafters of Madison Square Garden.”

As mentioned previously, the book is now available in hardcover, in paperback and in Kindle formats. To purchase a copy of the book, visit this link:

https://www.amazon.com/Rangers-Rafters-Madison-Square-Garden-ebook/dp/B09CM5N2WD

For those still looking for signed paperback versions of the book, I have re-ordered more copies. I now have a few signed copies for sale at $25 a pop (includes shipping price) through me directly. Here is all the information on that:

Order “The New York Rangers Rink of Honor and the Rafters of Madison Square Garden” Book Today

My four-volume set of books, “One Game at a Time – A Season to Remember,” is a game-by-game recount of the Rangers 2021-22 campaign.

My second title as an author, “One Game at a Time – A Season to Remember,” is now available in eBook, paperback and hardcover formats.

To obtain signed copies, visit: https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/onegamebook/

To purchase all four volumes on Amazon, visit: Amazon.com – “One Game at a Time.”

The greatest volume-set of books on Rangers’ history today!

“Tricks of the Trade – A Century-Long Journey Through Every Trade Made In New York Rangers’ History,” a four-volume set of books that meticulously covers every trade made in franchise history, is now on sale.

All four volumes of the title can be purchased on Amazon.com and are presented in three different formats – eBook, paperback and hardcover.

To purchase Volume I: Conn Smythe (1926) – Craig Patrick (1986), visit Amazon.com

To purchase Volume II: Phil Esposito (1986) – Neil Smith (2000), visit Amazon.com

To purchase Volume III: Glen Sather (2000-2015), visit Amazon.com

To purchase Volume IV: Jeff Gorton (2015) – Chris Drury (2022), visit Amazon.com

To purchase signed copies of all four volumes, visit https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/tricksofthetrade/

If you haven’t already, subscribe to this blog for the next update:

Don’t forget to order my four-volume set of books, “Tricks of the Trade!”

If you don’t order through me, all four volumes are now available on Amazon.com

For more details, check out: https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/tricksofthetrade/

Thanks for reading.

LET’S GO RANGERS!

Sean McCaffrey

BULLSMC@aol.com