All Hail the King
Gamebreaker
The Rangers have taken back home ice on the back of the play of Henrik Lundqvist. The King of New York would make 36 saves in tonight's contest, including a few that should be appearing on SportCenter's top 10 plays tomorrow morning.
Shot's through the scoreless second period were 26 for the Devils and just 14 for the Rangers. Once again the Rangers were kept in a game that they didn't start strong in all by Henrik Lundqvist. The save that Hank made on Kovalchuk, diving back into position and throwing his glove-hand at the puck is not only a game-changer, but a series changer. It was after that save that the Rangers began to find their game and get their legs moving after a lackadaisical game 2 showing, followed by a slow start in game 3.
But this is the typical course the Rangers have taken so far these playoffs; drop game 2 at home and get it back by any means possible in game 3. In Washington it took the better part of three overtimes before Gaborik gave the Rangers a 3-2 series lead. In Ottawa it was a 1-0 win, 39 save performance from Henrik Lundqvist with the game winning goal off the stick of who other, but Dan Girardi.
Speaking of Girardi, boy did he pick the right time to find his offensive game here in the playoffs. Girardi would record just 5 goals through all 82 regular season games, and he has found himself with three here in the playoffs, all game winners. Backed by his good defensive play, Girardi has carried that game into the offensive zone.
How much can we talk about how great McDonagh is? 28 minutes tonight, a +2 and an assist to boot along with impeccable defensive play and positioning.
Chris Kreider finds himself making and breaking records here in the playoffs. Darren Helm holds the record for most goals scored without scoring an NHL regular season goal, Kreider's today gives him 5 on the playoffs in 15 games, 1 more to tie Helm, and at this rate he's going to get there. Kreider is currently on a 3 game goal scoring streak as he establishes dominance over Martin Brodeur, and hopefully he can be a Devil killer for the rest of his New York career. You can really tell that Torts is putting more and more trust into the kid. Early in the game when Hagelin wasn't going at his normal speed, it was Kreider who was taking the extra shift on the Richards line, and even sometimes double shifting with his other unit. Kreider has without a doubt exceeded all expectations, and early on Sather seems to have made the right move not sending him to Columbus for Rick Nash.
It appears Mike Sullivan and the Rangers might have solved their power play woes for a bit here. Though it looks pretty awful at times, the power play has contributed 4 goals so far in this series, and the Rangers have had a successful man advantage in all 3 games so far. A lot of this success has to do with Kreider's implementation onto the unit. It was a very similar situation with Zuccarello at the end of the season when he was healthy. The Rangers power play took a step back after Zucc's was injured in the Buffalo game, and now has another shot of juice with Kreider becoming a regular in the 6 rotating forward positions.
I fully expect Brandon Prust to be hearing from the league for his elbow on Volchenkov. Luckily the referees missed the call that certainly would have been a major, but more than made up for that miss during the rest of the game as the Devils would have five power plays today to the Rangers 2.
Nice graphic just put up on Rangers/Devils post-game. The Rangers defense has contributed 11 goals this post-season, Phoenix is tied for second with two other teams as their defenses have only provided 5 goals to their team.
A huge win today by all means, but the Rangers new priority is to follow it up right away come Monday night. They need to bring the same intensity with them today that they played with in the second half of today's matinee. If the Rangers can do that, there's no reason this series won't head back to MSG for game 5 with the Rangers having the chance to close it out.
The Trend Continues, Rangers Lose Home Ice
Another not so satisfying game 2 effort has the Rangers heading to New Jersey for Saturday's matinee contest against the Devils handing them the home ice advantage in the series.
For what seemed like very long stretches at a time the Rangers were outworked, outhustled, outhit, and outplayed. They were beaten to pucks, losing 50/50 battles and not winning along the boards.
We have Stu Bickel becoming more and more useless every game that no one will fight him, shown in a nutshell on Clarkson's third goal. In just 4:13 of ice time tonight Bickel managed a -1. This is a tough situation because you would really want to see a guy like Eminger put back into the lineup, but that's too hard to do with Eminger playing just 1 game since the playoffs began, and that game at forward.
Now I guess before I get to this little paragraph, or rant, part of the blog, I want it known that I appreciate the fact that Tortorella's accountability is really going every way...this is a good thing, a thing we didn't see enough from him when guys like Drury and Redden were struggling (remember them?)
I was not a fan of the Gaborik benching tonight, who didn't get a shift until 8:58 remaining in the third period with the Rangers trailing by a goal.
Coach, you had him on the bench, he understood and got the message...you didn't need to rub it in at the expense of the chances of tying the game tonight. Not only are you having Gaborik riding the pine at that point, but you're also sacrificing the line combinations. I believe he had tried Anisimov with Richards and Hagelin first, then went to Kreider. It also makes Tortorella have to use guys like Boyle and Prust who have proven to be inconsistent scoring threats during the playoffs even more than he would have had to with Gaborik just taking his normal shift.
You're down 1 goal in a pivotal game 2 to hold home ice, you don't bench a 40 goal scorer for upwards of 15 minutes.
I thought the Rangers really deserved to lose tonight, because they did. Not only were they outhustled but defensive lapses led to all the Devils goals.
Kovalchuk left open on the power play to walk in on Hank and fire one top corner? Not acceptable.
Ryan Carter free to deflect a Salvador shot (that should've been blocked by Gabby) right in the slot? Not acceptable.
And of course, David Clarkson given all day to get a stick on the point shot from Henrique. Another little factor I wasn't too happy with on this goal was Tortorella not changing up the forward unit that was on the ice. The Kreider-Stpean-Callahan unit was on for 1:08 before that goal was scored. Not an out-of-this-world long shift by any means, but in that 1:08 that line had iced the puck, and drawn two more offensive zone faceoffs where they could have been taken off the ice and Tortorella left them out there. That goal isn't on the forwards by any means, as it is definitely on Bickel and Del Zotto for losing Clarkson, but it was just something little that could have been changed.
Also interesting to note on that sequence is that Derek Stepan won 2 of the 3 defensive zone face offs, including the one that led to the Devils goal.
I guess that's really all I have to say about the game, the Rangers could have been better and it's a very sad theme that seems to be developing when the Rangers take a lead in a series. The killer instinct that we saw in the regular season seems to have faded away, and this team tends to play better when their backs are against the wall, rather than the ones being the aggressor. The Rangers haven't won back-to-back games since games 6 and 7 of the Ottawa series, and lucky for them, they haven't lost back to back games since games 4 and 5 of that series too.
Random thought, does anyone else want to punch their television when Kovalchuk scores? Or is that just me...
Game 3 set for the only non-8pm start of the series with a 1pm puck drop on Saturday. A must-win in the sense that if the Rangers lose Game 3, then Game 4 is a back against the wall moment without a doubt.
This is a series where I'm confident the Rangers can at least split on the road. It's going to be tough without being able to match up against Kovalchuk, as long as the coaches are smart and don't get Bickel (or Eminger if he plays) out there after a whistle, that shouldn't matter with the Rangers top-4...and Sullivan could even mix and match McDonagh-Girardi and Staal to make sure that it's always the best possible matchup on the gamebreaking winger.
Keep believing and buckle up, we're in for another long one.
8-6 Rangers Prepare to take on NJ in ECF
For the first time in 15 years, the New York Rangers are headed to the Eastern Conference finals. The 1997 Blueshirts team led by Wayne Gretzky was the last team to head that deep into the playoffs, as we all remember the heartbreaks suffered to the Penguins and Sabres since the lockout ended. Gretzky would record 20 points in 15 Rangers playoff games as the Rangers were trounced by the Flyers in the ECF 4-1. The Flyers would go on to get swept by the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals.
And so here we are, 15 years later. It's taken 14 games to get there but the Rangers are back among the NHL's final four, and they have a familiar foe to face in the process. After defeating a Northeast division enemy, then a Southeast division rival, the Rangers will now take on a foe from that Atlantic Division as they get ready to host the New Jersey Devils in game 1 of the ECF tomorrow night (Monday) on MSG ice.
It's been 18 years since the Rangers won the cup, and as it was 18 years ago the road to the cup for the Rangers will go through New Jersey as the final eastern conference tune up. However this time there's no Vancouver powerhouse waiting in the wings for the Finals, just two of the NHL's rising stars between the pipes.
Over in New Jersey, the Devils are prepared to play their game and take their aggressiveness to the Rangers. These aren't your father's Devils, in fact, these aren't your Devils...these Devils are brand new and fresh out of the box playing a completely different style under Pete DeBoer. These Devils are fast, aggressive, forecheck, and are always pressuring the puck. They play a very similar style to our New York Rangers, perhaps a little more aggressive from the forwards, and a little more passive from the defenders.
In goal as always for the Devils will be Fatso...err...Marty Brodeur. This season the Rangers would finish with a 3-2-1 record in the head-to-head with the Devils. Brodeur would be in net for all 6 of those games and was rather impressive posting a 3-3 record with a 1.99 GAA and .916sv% with 1 shutout. A big key for the Rangers game is initializing their forecheck and playing the game below the hash marks. Brodeur's ability to play the puck needs to be countered and that should be a huge focal point for the Rangers. A few ways to neutralize Marty's effect on the forecheck will be using speedsters like Hagelin and Kreider who can hopefully beat the aging goalie to the spots, or the Rangers need to smarten up and keep the puck in the corners with soft dump-ins. If they don't go into the trapezoid, Marty cannot play the puck legally.
With the Rangers power play operating at an extremely average 15.8% this post-season, the Devils seem to have their bread and butter made on the PK. The Devils had three forwards (Henrique, Parise, and Kovalchuk) in the top 10 of the NHL for short-handed goals this season and that is a direct effect from their extremely aggressive PK. With guys like Parise and Zajac on the ice in every situation the Devils have no fear in taking offensive chances while a man down. This is especially true when the puck makes it's way back to the point. The Rangers defenseman will need to do everything in their power to make a quick decision with the puck, not only on the PP but 5 on 5 as well. The Devils are sure to be aggressive and the Rangers need to be able to find the ways to work around that and play their game.
So as it was 18 years ago, the Rangers or the Devils are guaranteed to be playing for the Stanley Cup after this round, they just have to battle each other to figure out whose going to be able to do so.
I think Ottawa and Washington were the worst possible match ups for the Rangers in the post-season, and the Rangers have found a way to eliminate both, even though it took 7 in each series. The Devils are definitely a better match up for the Rangers. I'd say the Rangers have the edge on defense and definitely have the edge between the pipes the way Lundqvist is playing, however I do believe I have to give a slight edge to the Devils forwards, they are definitely deep up front.
(Don't you kind of wish that Sean Avery was still on the roster just to mess with Kovalchuk and Marty? I do).
A big x-factor in this series will be the play of Ilya Kovalchuk who has never made it this far into the playoffs before. In fact, before this season Kovalchuk had not made it out of the first round of the playoffs. That hasn't stopped Kovalchuk from being a dominant player for the Devils. He recorded at least a point in all 4 of the games he played against the Flyers (finished with 2 goals, 5 assists) and has recorded 12 points all playoffs in the 11 games he has participated in.
The x-factor for the Rangers in my opinion will be the continued play of Brad Richards, which goes hand in hand with the Rangers power play. If Richards is going you better believe the power play SHOULD have something to do with that. Richards has been everything the Rangers had hoped he would be for the playoff run, leading the team in goals and points and playing in all 14 games. Richards will need to continue to lead the Rangers if they have hopes of advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals and taking a couple (or hopefully just 1) trip to Los Angeles or Phoenix.
My guess is going to have to be Rangers in 6, but as always this post-season I won't be surprised if this one goes the distance as well. These two teams are very (maybe too much so) familiar with each other and the series should be played that way.
Some quick stats to take note of:
Lundqvist head-to-head vs. Brodeur has recorded a 23-7-5 record.
The Rangers were 3-2-1 against the Devils this season.
In the 6 games against the Rangers, Ilya Kovalchuk has recorded 4 points (2 goals, 2 assists)
Brad Richards vs. the Devils this season, in 6 games, recorded just 2 points, both assists
Series Schedule:
Monday - 8 PM @ MSG
Wednesday - 8 PM @ MSG
Saturday - 1 PM @ Newark
Monday 5/21 - 8 PM @ Newark
Wednesday 5/23 - 8 PM @ MSG*
Friday 5/25 - 8 PM @ Newark*
Sunday 5/27 - 8 PM @ MSG*
(*if necessary)
When all is said and done, it should be a great series, and a selfish part of me is just happy that the Capitals weren't the ones to knock out the Rangers (again), but we all want more out of this team this season.
We want the Cup!
Shot Chart(s): Rangers Need to Get to Dirty Areas
Game 1
The game 1 shot chart shows a quick microcosm of what has been working for the Rangers in this series. Two of the three goals in that game were from between the circles or below, all in the middle of the ice. The playoffs are a battle for the middle of the ice, and when the Rangers get there it works.
Game 2
The game 2 shot chart shows an outlier for the Rangers. A goal that came from a bad angle from the point. The other goal however is clear as day, cut and dry, where the Rangers need to be to be successful.
Game 3
Game 3, or the first miracle on ice for the Rangers this season (the 3OT thriller) is exactly where the Rangers need to be. Two goals were enough to win this game for the Blueshirts, and they came from the dirty areas.
Game 4
Game 4, a loss, is a near duplicate of the shot chart from Game 3. Just goes to show where the Rangers are consistently successful so far in this series.
Game 5
Game 5, the second miracle on ice for the Rangers this series, has two odd goals for the Rangers. One from a bad angle, and one from the point (the Staal game winner that was deflected off of a Cap), the other goal however...
Game 6 - Goal
And finally Game 6, where the Rangers were wholly unsuccessful all night, the only goal came with 50 seconds to go in the contest with Gaborik banking a bad angle, flubbed shot, off of a Capitals defenseman.
Last night was a very easy game for Holtby. The Rangers got no traffic to the net, created limited opportunities in the middle of the ice and in the dirty areas where they were successful.
Here is the full shot chart from Game 6...
Game 6 - Shots
Just look at the net on the right side of the ice. The Rangers shot at that net for 40 minutes last night, and there is no blue on the screen from the crease to the circles.
When it's obvious what works for the Rangers, and they can't do it, it's a problem. They need to do a better job getting to the dirty areas of the Caps zone and make life hard for Holtby; because it's been WAY too easy on him recently.
There is no tomorrow during a Game 7 unless you win it, and as history of this series has shown, the Rangers can only have a chance if they can get to the dirty areas. Space is hard to come by in the NHL playoffs, we all know this, and the Rangers know it too. If they're going to get to the dirty areas they need to be first in on the forcheck, work down the Caps D, get them tired and then take advantage. It's knowledge that is known, and the Blueshirts are just going to have to work to accomplish that feat, and take the fans to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Another Game 7
The Rangers have failed to close out a series in 6, and in typical frustrating New York Rangers fashion are going to take 7 games to need to close out the series, one way or another.
My original prediction proving incorrect of whoever winning game 5 would win game 6.
I have to say I was extremely surprised in how poorly the Rangers came out of the gate tonight. The team was saying all the right things going into the game, how they have to be as desperate as the Caps tonight, and how they have to match their intensity. Well, hard to do that when Anton Stralman takes a penalty 1:13 into the game being completely unaware that Jason Chimera was on the ice (Torts coaching fault 1) and the Capitals capitalized on their PP and took the early lead and all the momentum.
Towards the end of the period the Rangers seemed to be finding their games, but they have proven time and time again an inability to get to the dirty areas of the ice and bang away for an ugly goal (Torts coaching fault 2).
And of course, the "Jason Chimera bounce" strikes again and he scores his 5th career playoff goal against the Rangers for the game winner.
Fact of the matter is that the Rangers thought they were prepared tonight and were the exact opposite, playing what may have been their ugliest game of the playoffs so far.
The 0-for-5 on the PP looms heavy now, as the Rangers fall by a score of 2-1. Yet, Mike Sullivan will continue to run the power play right into the ground (Torts coaching fault 3).
You may be noticing a trend here, as I count where I think Tortorella went wrong tonight. The biggest thing tonight was Tortorella's inability to make in game adjustments.
Matt Hendricks was absolutely dominating Brad Richards on faceoffs tonight, and everyone and their grandmother knew that was the match up that Dale Hunter wants against the Hagelin-Richards-Gaborik line. Yet, Torts continuously played into Hunter's hands and kept throwing Richards onto the ice when the Rangers had an offensive zone faceoff. Hunter counters easily with Hendricks, who finished 9 for 16 on faceoffs (counter to Richards' 11 for 28), and the Caps more often than not won possession and cleared the puck easily. I think this was Tortorella's biggest mistake tonight, and he's almost too stubborn in his ways. How about trying to get Richards out there on the fly, and make Hunter play his hand if he can, or get caught with an unfavorable match up? It seems a foreign concept to the Jack Adams nominee.
Another thing I was very displeased with tonight was the fact that Tortorella stuck to his guns and kept the same four lines rolling all game. It's obvious there is no cohesion between the 2nd (AA - BB - Cally) and 3rd units (Feds - Stepan - Prust) yet Tortorella continued truckin' them out there. How many times have we seen the coach fidget with the lines when they're working? Why not tonight when they clearly weren't, and have not been.
Coach, it's time to take off the grudge you have on Kreider for ONE mistake in game 2. Game 7 is a whole new beast, and every time Kreider touched the ice in his limited minutes (6:06) he was a factor in the offensive zone. Speed kills in these games and in Tortorella's system. To work, the Rangers need to be the first players into the offensive zone. That is why Carl Hagelin has been so effective with Richards and Gaborik, he gets in and gets the puck and starts the cycle. Tortorella needs to apply a rinse and repeat strategy with his top 6. Kreider-Stepan-Callahan worked as a unit until the Kreider turnover in game 2. I believe that it's been time to go back to those lines.
Boyle, Prust, and Fedotenko all play entirely too much. It's been the same story since the regular season. Torts has 3rd/4th line tweeners playing second line minutes and it is interrupting the effectiveness of what the Rangers offense could be.
It's going to be very interesting to see what kind of strategy Torts plays in Game 7 on Saturday night. As the rest of the NHL sits around and waits for the third round to begin, Rangers fans all over the place just have to be happy that Tortorella has last change when the puck drops on Garden ice.
Caps Take Game 4 in Game 2 Fashion
Game 2 on Garden ice saw the Rangers lose 3-2. The game winning Capitals goal was scored on a very controversial penalty call putting the Caps on the power play.
Sound familiar?
Game 4 on Verizon Center ice saw the Rangers lose 3-2. The game winning Capitals goal was scored on a very controversial penalty call putting the Caps on the power play.
Approximately 60 seconds before Carl Hagelin was called for slashing, Brian Boyle was in the offensive zone when his stick was shattered in two by a Capitals defenseman, the referees made no call on the play. I'll never believe the referees have an agenda. Once you get into that territory there's no reason to even watch the games anymore. Sometimes they make it so hard though, as it's hard to believe that the referees saw a clear difference between the Hagelin play and the Boyle play where one was a penalty and one wasn't. It's hard to believe that 4 eyes missed Callahan getting tripped, directly leading to the Green game winner. It's hard to believe that 8 eyes (since the linesemen can help make this call) missed Mike Knuble knock the puck straight into the stands with his glove hand. I mean, if I can see it in real time on my 32" television, I hope the officials can see it when they're not 10 feet away. But they can't.
Human error is part of the game, it's just very frustrating when that part of the game decides it.
There is no denying that the Rangers didn't deserve to win tonight, because they didn't. They were average from top to bottom including Lundqvist who should have been able to make a play on goals 1 and 3. Hard to get on Hank though, because that game would have been much more out of hand than 1-0 at the end of the first had the best goalie in the world not been between the pipes for the Rangers.
Goal 1 was a terrible turnover by Kreider, a big rookie mistake there. Perhaps sliding the puck into the middle of the ice you can get away with in college, but when Ovechkin "the Head hunter" is standing right there you can't feed him a perfect one-timer. That puck needed to be chipped up the boards and out, the safe smart play, or gone back to Dan Girardi with a forehand pass as that option was also open for Kreider.
The first 15 minutes of the game the Rangers didn't show up, and it was tough to get their legs going after giving the Capitals an early power play and all the momentum. However the Rangers team we do know, for the most part, came to play in the 2nd period erasing two 1 goal deficits and putting the game tied into the third period where they hoped they'd be able to decide the game.
Had the Rangers played a better third period, we would be sitting here discussing how the series is going back to the Garden with the Rangers up 3-1 after taking both games in Washington and holding a decisive lead on the series. Instead, the Rangers weren't anything special in the third and the game fell out of their hands when the official put the whistle in his mouth.
A couple of other quick thoughts:
Anyone who thinks Ovechkin is going to receive supplemental discipline for his charge and head contact hit on Girardi is delusional, sorry, but no way the NHL suspends Ovie in a tied series. They'll either cop out and fine him which would be a joke since he's a repeat offender, to try and make the Rangers and their fans happy. Or they'll go the route I suspect and it will probably never be mentioned again. Dale Hunter and Keith Jones both believe Ovechkin jumped in order to brace himself for the hit. Keep thinking that boys, I'm sure that's what he's doing the other 6 times he does it a game too.
I don't know why Eddie O hates the Rangers so much. They got your name on the cup Eddie, so relax already. It's bad enough we have to listen to Doc call these games with his long time Devils loyalty, but put Michelleti or someone else in the booth so we don't have two guys talking about how great the Capitals are all game. At least Pierre McGuire isn't as bad as he used to be. Keep telling me how calm and composed Holtby is when 40 minutes ago he didn't even know icing got waved off. Composed for sure.
In typical Rangers fashion winning this series will not come easily, just as the Ottawa series did not either. I'm sure my brother and girlfriend are always annoyed with the doomsday texts I send them after Rangers losses. Fact is, instead of being up 3-1 and making this series a little more easy on themselves, it's now a best of 3. Luckily the Rangers were able to steal home ice back in game 3, and now it's on them to win game 5.
I don't see this series as the Ottawa one, I see this series as whoever wins game 5 will take it in game 6. It can be the Rangers if they play their game, even if they have to defeat the officials as well.
#Believe
Rangers Take Back Home Ice in 3OT Epic
What a game.
If you didn't have fun watching that game, well, mixed in with nausea and hatred and love and respect and all other emotions known to man, then you're simply a person without emotions.
A final tomorrow morning, plus a paper due Friday as well as another final on Friday, I figure the only time good to blog is right now, so here are my thoughts on tonight's game.
Ryan McDonagh. What? 53:21 time on ice tonight. I don't think I've exercised for a total of 53:21 all year. Since that statistic has been calculated starting in the early 1990s, no one has logged more time on ice than that number. On the other side of the spectrum is Stu Bickel, who only logged 3 shifts the whole game at 3:24. You have to think if the game went to 7 OTs, Torts would have thought about putting him in there. As amazing as that McDonagh statistic is, it's wholly unnecessary. Torts, if you don't trust Bickel to take minutes from other d-men, get him out of the lineup and put Eminger in there. Or what about Woywitka? Does anyone know if he even exists still? I miss Sauer. That's one thing that irked me all game.
I have to admit when overtime started I had no hope, the Rangers are historically terrible in playoff overtimes as they had dropped 8 straight playoff OT games before taking the one in Washington tonight.
On the game winner, good tic-tac-toe play from Richards to Gaborik as Gabby slides it past Holtby and silences all the haters. Not 10 minutes before Gaborik put that puck in the back of the net did someone, who shall remain nameles, texted me saying to bench Gaborik next game. Lost in all the hate for Gaborik is the job that young defenseman John Carlson is doing on him in this series. I kept my eye on Gaborik tonight for look for that. Carlson is draped over Gabby all the time like white on rice, a terrible but true cliche in this case. But you have to be happy for Gaborik after this game, not able to get on the goal scoring sheet since game 1 against Ottawa, you have to hope this gets him going for the rest of the playoffs.
That game was exactly what you'd expect from two teams who had been battling for over 4 hours total and 114:41. Teams were tired on the ice and you could tell. The young guys had legs all game, Kreider and Hagelin kept trucking until they had nothing left to give every shift, and then came out rejuvenated for the next turn on the ice.
How about Ryan Callahan? What a warrior. Aside from Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan was the reason that the Rangers were still in the game, blocking shots all over the place, and logging nearly 42 minutes on ice, Callahan is the captain this team has deserved since Messier retired.
On the same page as Callahan, how about Girardi and Boyle tonight? Warriors. Girardi's going to need a skin graft after what Lundqvist's stick did to his face, and don't be fooled by the size of Semin, that was a rocket that Boyle took to the chin. Huge respect to both players for getting off the ice, getting fixed up, and getting back out there without missing a beat. And you know with the attitude in the Rangers locker room, Girardi is probably a little jealous that McDonagh logged all that ice time without him, and you KNOW he wanted to be there out him with every shift trying to shut down Ovechkin and the Caps.
Henrik Lundqvist is absolutely in the zone this post-season. Coming into the game with a 1.77 GAA that's going to go down significantly logging nearly two games tonight and giving up just one goal. Hank got helped by a few posts tonight but so did Holtby, and of course as always the Gordon Bombay rule applies to all posts hit in any hockey game ever.
To come out and win the game the way they did tonight says a lot about the Rangers character. To be able to steal a 3OT game on the road and put the Caps on their heels for game 4 is going to be monumental going forward in this series.
Picture the Rangers dressing room elated after a huge win, and the Caps dressing room devastated after dropping an epic game like that.
Thankfully, the NHL has scheduled two games off between games 3 and 4 in this series and both teams will have until Saturday at 12:30 pm before they have to take the ice against each other again. The Capitals will have 2 days to sulk over defeat while the Rangers will have 2 days to continue to work towards their goal of ending this series.
It's always an interesting night when the early game ends before the late game.
So many champs and stars from the Rangers tonight, but you've gotta give it up to McDonagh, Lundqvist, and Gaborik for icing the game tonight.
Let's get this series back to MSG at 3-1.
Let's go Rangers! #Believe
Rangers Unable to Hold Home Ice
Two series, two splits on home ice in the first two games. The Rangers work all season to get home ice advantage only to squander it away in the first two games of both series here to open the 2012 playoffs.
Tonight though, it was different. In the Ottawa series I thought most nights the better team would win and some nights it would be the Senators. In this series, nothing in the first 120 minutes has showed me that the Caps can run with the Rangers, and that's inspiring, as well as demoralizing seeing as how the series is 1-1 heading to DC.
Fact is the Rangers beat themselves tonight. Boneheaded play by Bickel, who only saw one shift after this turnover, leads to the Caps first goal as they convert on a 3 on 2. Bonheaded play by Lundqvist, although perhaps a little unfortunate as well as the puck just died in the corner, and the Caps (more specifically, Chimera...again) get a bounce and find a way to put it into the net.
On the third Caps goal...I'm a little torn here. It's a sad day really the first time you watch an NHL game and you KNOW for a fact, not think, but know for a fact, that one team will be getting powerplays in the third period because they are trailing in that number in the box score going into the final frame. The Rangers were able to kill off the questionable call on Boyle for holding the stick on Mike Green. Though the refs strike again making another questionable call, this time on Brad Richards, and the Caps light the lamp off the opening faceoff of the PP. I know a lot of people have a problem with the Richards call, frankly, so do I. But if you're Brad Richards, a seasoned NHL vet, a Conn Smythe winner, you CANNOT put yourself in a position to even allow the refs to think about calling a penalty on you. I'm sure Carlson embellished a big falling down, because it really looks like he did, but the refs are going to buy that.
The Rangers gave tonight's game away, it's as simple as that. And while in the Ottawa series I questioned the Rangers ability to go into Ottawa and steal a game, if they keep playing like this I fully expect this series to come back to MSG at the bare minimum of 2-2. Basing all of this off of the fact that the Rangers really did outplay the Caps tonight, and they still have more to prove.
Some more quick thoughts...
Torts, stop messing with the lines. No need to break up Hagelin-Richards-Gaborik and Kreider-Stepan-Callahan. Why do you think Richards has so much time on the ice? It's because of Gaborik. The Caps are ZONED in on Gaborik big time. Does Gaborik have to wake up and be a big-time gamebreaker and fight through the pressure he's receiving? He sure does. But when the Caps zone in on him it opens up the space that Richards needs to be successful. Don't mess with the top 6.
Brian Boyle looked like a player coming back from a concussion tonight. 6 for 14 on faceoffs including a defensive zone loss on the Caps PP goal in the third period. The whole line of Fedotenko-Boyle-Prust was rather lackluster after the wingers had a strong showing in game 1.
Kreider looked good again. Had two great chances including a breakaway. He needs to be more aware on the ice, but that will come with time. Often he is in the wrong position on the cycle in the offensive zone, but he's still learning the system. Also needs to up his awareness as the too-many-men penalty was a good momentum breaker for the Rangers.
Anisimov logged under 5 minutes of ice tonight as Tortorella really went into a three line rotation.
Was nice to see the powerplay notch a game tying goal...and on top of that it's very nice to see Del Zotto shooting with confidence. His shot that led to the Callahan goal, and two posts to boot (Gordon Bombay rule always applies to posts).
Hank can be better, and the team can be smarter. The fans in DC better be ready to be outplayed in their own building, but these games are won on the ice and not on the blogs, and the team whose better in the game, doesn't always win.
Let's go Rangers.