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Best In Show Winner Declared
Entering Saturday clinging onto the eighth spot in the East and, thus, their playoff lives, the Rangers could ill afford any adversity in their final four games.Yet in one Milan Lucic knee-to-knee hit, adversity swooped in from Boston and settled over Manhattan in a big, gray cloud. In one knee-to-knee hit in the second period of Saturday's contest between the Bruins and the Rangers, which the Bruins won, 1-0, Lucic knocked Nik Antropov out of the game and put the rest of his regular season in jeopardy.
The upsized winger has been a revelation since joining the Rangers at the trade deadline, posting 11 points (six goals) in 14 games, five of which have come on the power play. He's one of the big reasons the Rangers still have playoff hopes to cling onto. But if he's out for the remainder of the regular season, you can be certain the chances of the Panthers or Sabres overcoming the Rangers at the bottom of the conference are a lot better.
The hit didn't look intentionally malicious, and could wind up being not serious -- Antropov felt well enough to at least attempt another shift, which was shortened before he limped to the locker room. There's certainly a chance that he'll benefit from over three full days of rest before the Rangers play Montreal on Tuesday night.
For the Rangers' sake, let's hope he can make it back. His lack of presence wasn't the only reason the Rangers were dominated by the Bruins defense, but playing without him didn't help. The Bruins played disciplined, dominant defensive hockey, the kind of hockey that wins in the playoffs, and the Rangers were stifled. As it stands, the Rangers would have to face these same Bruins in the first round of the playoffs, and it's hard to look at this game and think they'd stand much of a chance.
Getting Antropov back before the playoffs might not be enough to significantly help the Rangers' chances of getting past the first round, anyway, but he'd certainly help. If he doesn't return before the playoffs, the Rangers might not have a first round to try to get past.
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