Bantering Points: 3/19/17

The Rangers continued their road dominance last night, notching a 3-2 victory in the State of Hockey over the Minnesota Wild. With two more points in the bag, the team has tightened it's grip on the first Wild Card spot ever so slightly, and will have two days off to prepare for another road contest against the New Jersey Devils. Here are today's and links:

Rangers News:

• Highlights, NYR 3: MIN 2 (3:41 Video via NHL.com)
• Patrick Donnelly recaps last night's action from Minnesota (Newsday)
• Scott Charles offers his thoughts on yesterday's 3-2 victory from Xcel Energy Center (Blueshirt Bulletin)
• Pat from BSB wonders if Kevin Klein's career on Broadway will be ending sooner rather than later (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Greg Slotnick reveals the two most important pieces for New York to have if they want to bring the Stanley Cup down the Canyon of Heroes (Elite Sports NY)
• Karly Redpath projects what long term deals for J.T. Miller and Kevin Hayes could look like (Blue Line Station)
• Postgame Notes: The Rangers are two wins away from tying their franchise record for road wins (Official Team Site)
• Postgame Interviews: Alain Vigneault,(2:17) Antti Raanta,(2:07) J.T. Miller,(1:29) and Brady Skjei (0:43) (Official Team Site)
• He skated in 54 games as a New York Ranger, and had an eye-popping 44/1 PIM/Point ratio as a Blueshirt. Yesterday's player in the picture was.....Steve McKenna (Wikipedia)/

Around the NHL:

• Jen Neale reports that Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk's take on if he would let defenseman Erik Karlsson skate in the 2018 Olympics is scorching hot (Puck Daddy)
• Cam Tucker points out that with a 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Washington Capitals became the first team in the league to clinch a playoff berth (NBC Sports)
• The two finalists for 2017 Kraft Hockeyville have been announced: O'Leary, Prince Edward Island and Ituna, Saskatoon are the final two towns in the running (Sportsnet)/