NEW YORK — When the puck dropped Friday night in their regular-season finale, against the Washington Capitals at Madison Square Garden, the New York Rangers didn’t know whether the game would be a preview of their first-round playoff matchup or not.
It will not be.
In order for that to have happened, fading, battered Washington, playing without Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, would have needed to beat the Rangers, while the Pittsburgh Penguins lost at home to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Neither of those things happened.
The Rangers closed out their regular season with a 3-2 win over the Capitals, and Pittsburgh beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-3, and those results set up a Rangers-Penguins matchup in the first round of the playoffs, which begin either Monday or Tuesday at the Garden.
Dryden Hunt broke a 2-2 tie with his sixth goal of the season at 6:42 of the third period and that was the winner for the Rangers, who needed to survive a Washington power play with 2:24 remaining to close out the game and finish the regular season with a record of 52-24-6, and 110 points.
The Rangers were locked into second place in the Metropolitan Division after they lost to Carolina at the Garden on Tuesday, and were set to face whoever finished third in the division. Pittsburgh, with 103 points, did that, and Washington (100 points) ended up fourth. They will face President’s Trophy winner Florida.
Before the game, though, when things hadn’t been settled, the Rangers conceded it was a little weird going into their game against the Caps knowing there was a chance the game could be a playoff preview.
“I think it is in the back of your mind, for sure,’’ center Ryan Strome said. “I think you want to show them a good effort, and show your ‘compete level,’ and stuff like that. I think if you're going to be competing against a team in a seven-game series, obviously you want to put your best foot forward… More so than anything, it’s just a chance for us to continue to work on our habits and try to be as consistent as we can in our effort going in the last game, here, and be ready to go.’’
Neither of Strome’s regular wingers played in the game. Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp, who normally flank Strome, both missed their second straight game with upper- and lower-body injuries, respectively. Strome started out playing with Barclay Goodrow and Jonny Brodzinski, and during the second period had Alexis Lafreniere replace Brodzinski on the line. Lafreniere scored his 19th goal of the season at 15:44 of the second period, off a two-on-one, give-and-go return pass from Strome.
That goal tied the score at 2-2, after Filip Chytil had scored for the Rangers and defensemen Justin Schultz and John Carlson (on the power play) had scored for the Capitals earlier in the period.
Rangers coach Gerard Gallant came close, but didn’t quite dress the lineup he’ll use for Game 1 of the playoffs. The five players who were rested for Wednesday’s game against Montreal – Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Jacob Trouba, Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren – all returned to the lineup. But Panarin and Copp did not play, and Gallant opted to start backup goalie Alexandar Georgiev and rest No. 1 Igor Shesterkin.
“It's just about getting him prepared the right way,’’ Gallant said of the decision to rest Shesterkin. “Benny (Allaire, the Rangers’ Director of Goaltending) wants to prepare him the right way. He thinks it's better off not to play him tonight and then get the rest, and get the preparation. So that's why we're going with that. And I agree with it.’’
Georgiev, who will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights when the season ends, likely played his final regular season game in a Rangers uniform. The Rangers, with the contract extensions of Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox kicking in next season, are going to want to get a cheaper option to fill the backup goalie position behind Shesterkin.
Georgiev played well, though, making 34 saves overall, including one on a Tom Wilson breakaway with 8:53 remaining, to preserve the lead.
