The Rangers fired the opening salvo, defeating the Devils 5-1 in the first game of their Eastern Conference playoff series on Tuesday. New York’s attack was led by a pair of Chris Kreider power-play goals and four assists from Adam Fox, contributing mightily to the victory. The two sides will meet Thursday in New Jersey for Game 2.
Lines:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Kane
Panarin-Trocheck-Tarasenko
Lafreniere-Chytil-Kakko
Vesey-Goodrow-Motte
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Mikkola-Schneider
Game recap:
Post-game overview:
Empire State Building lit up in Rangers colors:
A few thoughts:
1)
Game flow - overall, a solid performance. Scoring from three of the four lines and the defense chipped in as well. Patrick Kane didn’t do much, which has to be mildly concerning, given that these games are why he was brought to New York. Mika Zibanejad, the Birthday Boy, didn’t score but his line did a good job against the Jack Hughes line, limiting their chances while on the ice. Artemi Panarin had assists in the two PPG and was engaged and creative through the game. The Kid Line struggled a bit, especially against the Timo Meier unit, but rebounded as the game wore on. Barclay Goodrow was the best of the fourth line, who were good as a unit.
New York took advantage of the opportunities New Jersey provided them, which is kind of how we expected this series to go. The Devils create off the forecheck and through the neutral zone while the Rangers are a bit more of a quick strike offense. Yesterday, the above played out as expected but New York limited high-quality chances. When they didn’t, Igor Shesterkin came up big. In Game 2, the forwards have to be better at puck possession and not forcing the D to cover up for their mistakes. The forecheck must be improved against a New Jersey team that will look to make up for a subpar performance defensively.
Defensively, the
K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba pairing, as noted in the comments to the prior blog from Tom and others, were solid. “When Trouba and Miller were on the ice at 5 on 5, Devils had 14 controlled zone entries. 0 scoring chances from those entries.” But the lingering memory of Miller’s game is his turnover - which was on a completely unnecessary pass attempt across the blue line - leading to Jack Hughes’ breakaway attempt and ultimately, penalty shot goal. Hughes showed why he is dangerous and the Rangers will need to maintain their angles while defending him while being physical, legally, every chance they get.
Ryan Lindgren made a great read on his goal, switching sides with Fox, who was sublime as usual, and slipping down the half wall. Lindgren beat Vitek Vanecek, who flinched and lowered his shoulder, creating space high, short-side. Niko Mikkola was very good at his own blue line, parrying attacks, same for Goodrow. New Jersey had chances but I didn’t get the sense that they dominated action, even when they came through the neutral zone.
2)
Kreider did what CK20 does, score big goals in general and in front on deflections. The pair of tallies moved Kreider into first place in Rangers history with 36 Stanley Cup Playoff goals (Rod Gilbert, 34) and 14 playoff power-play goals (Adam Graves, 13). For his overall career, regular and postseason combined, Kreider has 301 goals.
After the game, Kreider’s comments were what we all expect from him, ignoring his own personal achievements and focused on the team and goals ahead
"We won Game 1," said Kreider, "Game 2 is the hardest one to win after you win Game 1. We’re happy with how the first game went. We’ll be happy for 10, 15 minutes, then get ready for Game 2."
3)
Special Teams: we said before the game this would be the key, as it usually is in the postseason. New York went 2-for-3 on the man-advantage, with both goals scored by Kreider. On the flip side, the Rangers' PK successfully killed three penalties in the first period and four for the game. Most impressively, they didn't allow a single shot on goal on any of those four Devils' power plays. Killing those early penalties set the tone for the game and was highlighted by Vladimir Tarasenko (who needs to be brought back) in his post-game comments as he focused more on that than his goal that kicked off the scoring.
4)
Shesterkin made 27 saves, his best and biggest might have to help the Rangers against 2-0 in the second. Hughes slipped inside past Mikkola for a chance right in front of the net. But Shesterkin had it all the way, quickly closing up his legs to smother the shot right off Hughes' stick. Igor was calm and cool throughout the game, never rattled and in control. He went 13-2-1 with a .937 save percentage in his final 16 starts, and opened the playoffs with a stellar outing
5)
One down, three to go. Good signs in the win, but as noted above, some areas of focus for Game 2. Home ice advantage regained but a chance now to grab a hold of the series. New Jersey should come out flying, hitting everything, to turn the tide early and get their crowd engaged.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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