Bantering Points: 4/18/17

After an intense, high energy practice yesterday for the Rangers, tonight is crunch time as they find themselves in a must-win Game 4 against the Montreal Canadiens. Beyond that, let's all take a moment to have a a good belly laugh at the expense of the Blackhawks and Capitals, the two regular season Conference champions, who are a combined 1-5 against the two #8 seeds. Anyway, here are today's news and links:

Rangers News:

• Brett Cyrgalis thinks the Rangers have identified their main issue on the power play (NY Post)
• Larry Brooks writes that Alain Vigneault must do whatever it takes to end the Blueshirts' home woes (NY Post)
• Steve Zipay argues about how inserting Pavel Buchnevich and Nick Holden into the lineup could be the offensive spark the team is looking for (Newsday)
• Neil Best reports that tickets for Game 4 haven't fluctuated in price on the secondary market despite New York's Game 3 performance (Newsday)
• Game Preview: Martin St. Louis won't be on the ice for any more Game 4 overtime heroics at Madison Square Garden (CBS)
• Jess Rubenstein delivers an update on prospects, with bits on Gabriel Fontaine, Tim Gettinger, and more (Blueshirt Bulletin)
• Tom Dianora believes that despite only being down 2-1 on the series, the Rangers are in more trouble than meets the eye (The Hockey Writers)
• Josh Khalfin wonders where New York's killer instinct is. That sentence would be kind of funny on r/nocontext (Blue Seat Blogs)
• George Ruggiero notes that Scott Arniel and other assistant coaches could be on the hot seat (Blue Line Station)
• John Williams speculates that Alain Vigneault could be coaching for his job when the puck drops at 7:00 EDT tonight (Blue Line Station)
• Post Practice Interviews: Henrik Lundqvist,(1:46) Rick Nash,(1:25) Derek Stepan,(3:25) Alain Vigneault,(7:24) J.T. Miller,(1:29) Jimmy Vesey,(2:35) and Brendan Smith (2:29)/

Around the NHL:

• Kyle Cantlon passes along video of a couple of fans not taking the Boston Bruins' 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators well, as they attempted to steal one of the Senators' equipment as they were celebrating (Puck Daddy)
• Frank Seravalli predicts that the low-scoring playoffs we've seen thus far will become the new norm in the future (TSN)
• Chris Jonhston noticed that with playoff hockey back in Toronto, the roof could have blown off the Air Canada Centre once the Maple Leafs earned a 2-1 series lead (Sportsnet)
• Jared Clinton breaks down why seeing the Nashville Predators on track to knock out the Chicago Blackhawks may not have been much of an underdog pick to those in the know (The Hockey News)/