Here are today’s news and links:

Rangers News:

• Highlights: NYR 5, OTT 1 (5:04 video via NHL.con)
• Game Recap: With a chance to clinch their first playoff berth in five years, the Rangers sent a message to the league with a dominating performance over the hapless Senators as they punched their playoff ticket (CBS)
• Mollie Walker sees last night’s performance as the exclamation point to the Blueshirts ending of their playoff drought (NY Post)
• Colin Stephenson notes that although it took multiple years, the Rangers’ rebuild has reached a major milestone (Newsday)
• Vincent Mercogliano offers his takeaways from New York’s victory over Ottawa (LoHud)/

Around the NHL:

• The Toronto Maple Leafs also clinched a playoff berth last night, as they defeated the Montreal Canadiens by a 3-2 margin to secure their spot (TSN)
• Iain MacIntyre argues that whether or not Bruce Boudreau remains with the Vancouver Canucks beyond this season, he should have a head coaching job behind an NHL bench next season (Sportsnet)/