The Rangers found a way to rally to notch a 4-3 double overtime win. Vincent Trocheck was the hero at 7:24 of the second extra session to send the MSG faithful home happy and give New York a 2-0 series lead. Game 3 will be Thursday at 7pm in Carolina.
Game recap:
A few thoughts:
1) Trocheck led all skaters - not just forwards, but skaters - in ice time at 35:21. That’s ridiculous though shows just how valuable Trocheck is, as he is replayed in all situations. Even-strength, power play, penalty kill, whoever he is needed, coach Peter Laviolette used him.
Tuesday was Trocheck's fifth straight game with a goal, tying Cecil Dillon (1933) for the longest postseason streak in Rangers history. He also has a point in all six playoff games (five goals, five assists). New York’s second line pivot has been cdnter stage this postseason.
His reaction after the game, both with ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and in the overall post-game presser was perfect. "I couldn’t tell you what happened," Trocheck said with a dazed grin. "I’ll watch it and let you know."
Let’s take a moment to appreciate how great @rayferraro21 was here. He let the moment breathe and then came in with the perfect detail about *why* Trocheck’s effort was so impressive. So difficult to do in real time. Ray is such a pro. pic.twitter.com/fdBL7uZsys
2) Igor Shesterkin was a beast. He was completely locked in, and when Igor is in that mode, he is nearly unbeatable. That most certainly was the case in the third period and two overtime sessions when Shesterkin made 17 and 15 saves, respectively.
Shesterkin’s biggest moments may have come at the end of regulation when New York was on the power play. Carolina had by far the better chance shorthanded, forcing Igor to make three brilliant stops. On one, Jordan Staal set up Seth Jarvis on a two-on-one. On the next, Jalen Chatfield fired a puck on net after a rebound. If Igor wasn’t in Superman mode, the game would have been over there.
Igor’s 54 saves overall tied him for third most by a Rangers' goalie in the franchise's playoff history. Ironically, though, the 53 saves are the most ever for a Rangers goalie in a win. (To hearken you back to two years ago, Shesterkin made 79 saves in an overtime lost to Pittsburgh). As Peter Bough noted in The Athletic, Shesterkin stopped 2.43 goals more than expected over the course of the game, according to Natural Stat Trick.
3) Alexis Lafreniere - Laffy Taffy was rolling. His two goals Tuesday were his first playoff tallies in 22 games, which is a crazy stat. His first goal was a snipe short side off a rebound. The more impressive marker was his second, when defense led to offense. Laf got the puck out of the corner, took a hit while making a breakout pass, then busted it up ice at a good pace for someone who can’t skate - sarcasm - and potted the tap in goal
Laf had a pair of chances at a hat trick, including one when Frederik Andersen- who was good in the loss - was down and Laf chipped it over the net with head thrown to the sky. He had a second chance later in the game where he had a similar reaction. Yesterday, Laf looked like the player who scored 29 times during the year.
4) Chris Kreider - we now get into the good and the bad on a pair of players. Kreider had the game tying goal in the third in front of the net, cleaning up in front. But beyond that, Yipes.
My biggest issue was his lazy or stupid or both play on Jake Guentzel’s goal in latter stages of the second period for a 3-2 Carolina lead. Kreider’s backchecking, an issue in the past, has become worse and non-existent at times. Yesterday, that was the case. A bad initial pass by Laf and an even worse turnover by Jacob Trouba on a blind pass to center ice created an odd-man rush. Three players went to Sebastian Aho on the boards. Erik Gustafsson was in no-man’s land while Kreider had the front of the net, then stupidly vacated it after Guentzel was basically there, resulting in the goal. You cannot made that play. It’s hockey 101, dont leave the slot unmarked especially if a player is there.
5) Trouba blocked nine shots and dished out five hits. He made a great pass to Mika Zibanejad in overtime that led to a wide open chance in front of the net that Andersen stoned. Beyond that, his game stunk.
More important, Trouba is lucky he didn’t get penalized or thrown out of the game. Martin Necas was fortunately he lost an edge and had a takeout or Trouba’s elbow, which was a chicken wing, would have knocked him into next week on a missed check. Trouba could face league discipline because the attempted elbow was pretty clear on the videos below. You cannot make that play, it’s dirty and cheap and warrants a suspension. Add in his reputation and the league could make a phone call. Couple his three penalties last night and two in Game 1 and poor defensive play and not a stretch to say Trouba had been a liability a lot in the first two games of the series.
I don't know if I've ever seen a play where someone almost kills someone else twice and themselves once, but I'm not surprised it involved Trouba pic.twitter.com/3dDPfaXcY5
6) Matt Rempe dressed but played only 4:03 in 86:24 of game time. The Rangers record is brilliant with him in the lineup but his limited ice time adds pressure on the other 11 players. Yesterday, he once again was a focus of officials who decided to speak to him after a slight interaction with Andersen behind the net yet Andrei Svechnikov didn’t warrant the same treatment for a much worse offense. You don’t normally mess with a winning formula but wonder if eventually we see a change.
7) Special, special teams: New York has scored power play goals in five straight games, with at least two in four of those contests, while registering a success rate of 40% (10-for-25). Carolina did a very good job of shutting down the PP at times. They pressured New York high in the offensive zone, forcing quicker than expected and usual decisions, resulting in several clears. The Rangers started to dump the puck in and chase rather than trying to carry it in, which helped in the two goals.
The Rangers went 5-for-5 on the PK for the second straight game and have posted a 92.6% success rate (25-for-27) through six postseason contests. That right there is the difference in the first two games along with Shesterkin. The Blueshirts have benefitted from Carolina’s reluctance to shoot on the man-advantage along with doing a good job of cutting off lanes - both shooting and passing.
8) Game play: As Vince Mercogliano wrote and I think we all saw while watching the game, the Canes were the better team at even strength, showing why they have the reputation as one of the NHL's analytical darlings. They shot themselves in the foot by taking eight penalties, including three in the third period. But when the game was played at five-on-five, they had a 44-28 advantage in shots. Carolina carried play for large stretches of the game but Shesterkin was huge when needed.
Their top line of Guentzel, Aho and Svechnikov - who will not be on Shesterkin’s XMas list after his hit on Igor behind the net - was in the middle of that effort, with Guentzel scoring a pair of goals on a couple primary assists from Aho. They combined for 14 shots on goal and five high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick, and were the best line for either team. With Carolina having the last change at home, they get another advantage that might further benefit this trio in Game 3. They were held in check slightly in Game 1 by the Will Cuylle-Alex Wennberg-Kaapo Kakko line, but that was not the case last night. Cuylle had a lot of jump and Wennberg was solid but Kakko was mostly invisible, especially offensively.
New York held serve at home, that’s all. A series is not a series until someone loses at home. New York has a chance to grab a stranglehold on the series Thursday.
Notes: Panarin has 127 points (52 goals, 75 assists) this season, moving past Jaromir Jagr (124 in 2005-06) for the most in Rangers history (regular season and playoffs combined). … Zibanejad extended his point streak to six games (three goals, eight assists).
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