Friday's best: With OT win, Rangers refuse to be eliminated at home
Best game: New York Rangers 2, Washington 1 (OT). The Rangers were 1:41 away from succumbing to the Presidents' Trophy curse. Their major trade deadline acquisition, defenseman Keith Yandle, made a horrible decision to pinch on a play when his blue line partner, Kevin Klein, had already been beaten on the right side. Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen chipped the puck past Yandle to Curtis Glencross for a breakaway and a 1-0 lead with 9:06 left in regulation. But with goalie Henrik Lundqvist headed to the bench for an extra attacker, Chris Kreider pulled the Blueshirts even off a deflected puck at the 18:19 mark. Then Glencross returned Yandle's favor with a bad neutral zone turnover in overtime. Jesper Fast picked it off and fed Rangers center Derek Stepan, who slid the puck to defenseman Ryan McDonagh crashing the slot with a clean look at the net. McDonagh's shot squirted through goalie Braden Holtby, and the Rangers won their ninth straight game when facing elimination at Madison Square Garden. Game 6 is Sunday in Washington.
Best stat: One-goal wonders. The Rangers have played 12 straight one-goal games in the playoffs, dating to the final two games of the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals.
Best odd stat: The record for most 2-1 overtime games in one NHL postseason is nine, set in 2002. There have already been seven this postseason with the second round still underway in three of four series. The Rangers have played in and won three of them.
Best at being worst: Canada. With Calgary's defeat, hockey nation is just two losses -- one by Montreal, one by the Flames -- away from being eliminated from the postseason, thereby extending its Stanley Cup drought to 22 years. Both teams trail in their series 3-1.
Best visual: Flames fan's reminder. While Ducks linemates Corey Perry and Patrick Maroon were celebrating Maroon's empty-net goal to ice Anaheim's 4-2 win over Calgary, one Flames fan behind the glass reminded the duo twice that it stills need one more win.
you see it pic.twitter.com/3l6FKUPQr0
— Stephanie Vail (@myregularface) May 9, 2015
Best quote, via The Washington Post: Rangers coach Alain Vigneault was asked after New York's win about the importance of getting his defensemen more involved in the offensive zone. The question was a reference to Ryan McDonagh's game-winning goal, but Vigneault rewound to Keith Yandle's earlier gaffe that nearly ended the Rangers' season: "Do you think we overdid it on their first goal?" he asked to a chorus of laughter.
Best clutch performer: Henrik Lundqvist, G, New York. Lundqvist entered Friday's game with an 11-3 record, a 1.36 goals-against average, a .957 save percentage and two shutouts when the Rangers faced elimination since 2012. The first three numbers all improved after a 28-save performance in New York's 2-1 overtime win.
Best 5-on-5 team: Anaheim. Through eight playoff games, Anaheim's goals for/against ratio is a gaudy 2.0. That's a whopping .69 goal better than second-place Montreal and .68 better than the regular-season leaders: the New York Rangers. Couple that with the postseason's second-ranked power play unit (28 percent) and fourth-ranked penalty killing unit (88.9 percent) and Anaheim is rolling.
Best thing to look forward to Saturday: Tampa Bay at Montreal, Game 5. The Canadiens are feeling rejuvenated by their 6-2 win on Friday in Tampa. Montreal outshot Tampa Bay 71-43 in the two games in Florida and controlled 5-on-5 play. That said, they're still in a 3-1 hole and facing extremely long odds to rally. Only four of 181 teams in NHL history have rallied from a 3-0 playoff deficit to win the series. "Our focus has been to get another game at the Bell Centre," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien told reporters Friday before heading back to Montreal. "Now we want to get back to Tampa Bay and have another game here. We are still taking this one game at a time. Momentum can change quickly in hockey."
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