Bantering Points: 4/4/17
News and notes for Tuesday, April 4th, 2017
By virtue of the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 victory over the Florida Panthers last night, the Rangers are now locked into a trip into the Bell Centre during the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs. While playing in Montreal has been a house of horrors for New York in the past, they have had a little bit of playoff success against Les Habitants. Here are today's news and links:
Rangers News:
- Justin Tasch relays word from Henrik Lundqvist about his thoughts on the NHL's decision to not participate in the 2018 Olympics in South Korea (NY Daily News)
- Sean Hartnett thinks that Alain Vigneault could be the coach capable of tapping into Brendan Smith's offensive potential (CBS)
- Chris Wengert believes that the Rangers have chosen a poor time to play their worst hockey of the season (Elite Sports NY)
- Dave Shapiro takes a moment to reflect on how New York has overachieved this season (Blue Seat Blogs)
- Brandon Cohen examines the struggles Jimmy Vesey has gone through throughout his rookie year (Blue Line Station)
- Cohen also highlighted how Antti Raanta's phenomenal play during the 16-17 season is award worthy (Blue Line Station)
- Alexandra Russo offers five reasons not to worry about the Rangers' defense corps as the playoffs approach (Blue Line Station)
- Prospect Report: Igor Shesterkin, Tim Gettinger, and Gabriel Fontaine have been named New York's three stars of the week (Official Team Site)
- An oldie but goodie, Jimmy Vesey, Brady Skjei, and Kevin Hayes visited Barstool Sports HQ to take part in David Portnoy's Goalie Challenge. WARNING: The language is a bit coarse (3:51 Video via Youtube)/
Around the NHL:
- As previously reported, the NHL has announced that the will not be taking a break in their 17-18 schedule to allow for Olympic participation (TSN)
- Elliotte Friedman argues that the league's decision to not send it's players to the Winter Games is bad for all parties involved (Sportsnet)
- Kyle Cantlon lists eight players who have probably played their final game on Olympic ice (Puck Daddy)
- The Hockey News staff debates which team has overachieved the most (The Hockey News)/