The New York Rangers will attempt to accomplish a feat they've yet to master this postseason, and that will be to win a Game 2 tonight against the New Jersey Devils at Madison Square Garden. After taking Game 1 on Monday night, 3-0, after a third period offensive explosion, the Blueshirts, for the third time in the playoffs, have the opportunity to put their opponent in a 2-0 hole going to the away arena for Game 3 on Saturday afternoon. Against both the Ottawa Senators and Washington Capitals, the Rangers managed to let the earned momentum from the series opener slip, leaving the series in a tie for Games 3 and 4. Will that finally change tonight? They sure hope so.
As intriguing as this series was before it even began, the first match brought the interest up another level, and not even so much because of what occurred on the ice, but rather what was said off of it, specifically from the Devils camp.
First, Devils assistant coach Larry Robinson was evidently displeased by the ceremonial procedures at MSG following the Rangers' win in Game 1. The coach, while leaving the ice through the tunnel alongside his players, reportedly shouted comments along the lines of, "They are popping champagne and smoking cigars," as well as, "They think they got this won already." Whether or not that was the exact terminology used will never be known, but it's what is floating around on the Internet and the point, regardless of how it was put, was made.
In addition to that, New Jersey goaltender Marty Brodeur made a classless comment following the game in reference to the Rangers blocking a lot of shots in Game 1...
“We might be able to hurt a few guys [by] hitting one-timers in the foot and their head or something," Brodeur said to the New York Post.
His teammates then had to cover for the loud-mouthed veteran by denying any plan to deliberately fire pucks at the bodies of the Rangers.
As ridiculous as both incidents are, it does say something about this series; The Rangers are clearly in control of the mental aspect of this match-up through just one game. For the Devils to fly off the handle like this after a single loss, just imagine how they would react to a second defeat tonight in Game 2.
The bottom line here is that the Ranges need to capitalize in this situation. It was very uncharacteristic of the Devils to lose patients that quickly after the first game, and if this continues throughout the series, they are going to fall apart and find their season coming to an end quicker than they originally thought.
Going up two games to none tonight will put the Rangers in perfect position, and if they can play how they did in the third period on Monday for a full game, they should be in good shape to get their second victory of the series.
As I said it would, the strategy of simply throwing pucks at Marty Brodeur from all angles created commotion on defense for New Jersey. That must become the gameplan here, because that's how this Rangers team is going to score its goals; creating traffic and firing from anywhere. T'is was the case on both Rangers goal in Game 1 (not counting Artem Anisimov's empty-netter).
And the Rangers must also be prepared for a physical response from the Devils. They were a disappointed hockey club earlier in the week and will look to change the momentum of this series early on in this tilt.
The lineup for New York is expected to remain the same.
New York Rangers Lineup
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