The New York Rangers did not play a sixty minute game in their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series opener against the Senators tonight, but it's not about how you win in the playoffs - it's if you win. Based on that theology, you couldn't have asked for a better way to get things started than the Blueshirts' 4-2 win here at Madison Square Garden. The tone for the series has now been set and the Rangers are just three wins away from moving on to the semifinals. Of course, we don't want to get ahead of ourselves here, but the Rangers delivered exactly what the doctor ordered in this game to get their quest for the Stanley Cup jump-started.
Right from the opening faceoff, this tilt had a tenacious uptempo feel to it. Both teams came out hitting, but it was the Rangers who went to work on the forecheck first. On their first powerplay attempt in the period, they came within inches of beating goaltender Craig Anderson but were unable to get the job done.
Eventually, at 12:02, it was captain Ryan Callahan who scored the first goal of the series by swinging a loose puck to the back of the net through a Senators defenseman. It certainly wasn't pretty, but it was your typical Callahan goal. It was "the right way" to open the scoring for the Rangers on the night.
They held that 1-0 lead going into the second period, despite being guilty of taking multiple penalties that would be killed off. Ottawa, though, was quickly building momentum and spending a majority of the second stanza in the Rangers' end. A timeout by head coach John Tortorella would change that, and then came a surge of dominance from the home team.
At 16:24 of the second, Marian Gaborik took an Ottawa turnover to the net, where he slid a snap shot under Anderson and in to give the Rangers' a 2-0 advantage. Less than three minutes later, Brian Boyle had a loose puck in the slot land right on his blade, which he fired top corner to continue the scoring for New York. The way in which the Blueshirts finished out that second period replicated the way they began the game - it was a perfect amount of intensity that gave the Senators trouble in their own zone.
That intensity carried into the final period, and the Rangers would strike again to put up their fourth unanswered tally at the time. This time it was rookie Carl Hagelin making a beautiful play at the side of the net to steal the puck and then set up Brad Richards for an easy tap-in out front. Prior to this game, the coaching staff ordered healthy scratch Chris Kreider to keep an eye on Hagelin and take notes on his style of play. That fourth goal was pretty much Hags' game in a nutshell, so hopefully Kreider didn't decide to take a bathroom break during that one.
The Rangers would mistakenly take their foot off the pedal after that goal, and they allowed the Senators to get into the game. Back-to-back goals from Daniel Alfredsson and then Erik Condra brought the score to 4-2, but their rally was a little too late as New York would hold on for the Game One victory.
As expected, Henrik Lundqvist was the main difference in this game. He totaled 30 saves on the night, many of which came in the first half of the second period and then late in the third when the Senators applied the most pressure. If the Rangers can get an effort like that from King Henrik on a nightly basis, they won't have much of a problem wrapping this series up quick. The playoff-possessed Lundqvist I've spoken about in the past definitely showed himself tonight.
To the defense's credit, though, they did an excellent job of keeping the Senators to the outside for the most part. Most of the Sens' 32 shots in the game came from the outside and they didn't have many follow-up rebound chances, either. The defense was best on the penalty-kill, completely shutting the Senators down on their three powerplay opportunities on the night. They took the approach that I suggested in the pregame, and that was to step up and shut the rush down at the blue-line before it had a chance to even enter the zone. This made Lundqvist's job that much easier.
Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh looked great out there. Not that I expected anything less, but I was unsure if McDonagh would maintain his cool in a playoff atmosphere, but he did so just fine. They managed to hold Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson to one goal between the two, which is certainly an accomplishment. Also, defenseman Erik Karlsson did not make his way onto the board at all. The Rangers did an excellent job of isolating Karlsson and limiting his time and space to make plays.
Marc Staal was also a stud in the back-end for the Rangers. In fact, I'd even go as far as to say this is the most noticeable he's been since returning to the lineup on January 2. The way he was stepping up on opponents and using his long reach reminded me much of the Marc Staal we saw all of last season. That was a tremendous plus for the Rangers and can be going forward as well.
Offensively, the top line of Carl Hagelin, Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik were dominant in this one. They were on the ice for two of the Rangers' four goals and were the best trio as far as time of possession went. These three will be vital in how far the Rangers climb in the playoffs, and if tonight was any indication of what is to come, they are going to be very difficult to contain. As I've said before, Hagelin is the secret to that line's success. His speed creates space for Richards and Gaborik that those two have never had before.
Aside from the first line, the next two best forwards for the Rangers in this game were Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky. And actually, Tortorella swapped the two midway through the game so that they could better assist their respective lines. Anisimov finished the night with two points, picking up helpers on both Callahan's and Boyle's goals. Artie also was a factor on the penalty-kill when he was put out there at times in the game, so he had an all around solid outing.
As did Brandon Dubinsky, who did not record a point, but made his presence known in all three zones. Dubi played with an edge tonight and was absolutely a difference maker for the Rangers. If he can keep his game at this level, mark my words, he will become very important in the Rangers' playoff run.
And then there's Captain Callahan, who was, well, Captain Callahan. He hit everything in sight, scored a goal, left everything on the ice when defending - he's a coach's dream player at this time of year. It's impossible to find a flaw in his game. Besides Lundqvist, Cally was my first star tonight.
All things considered, it's a good sign that the Rangers were able to score four consecutive goals in a dominating matter without playing a full sixty minutes. Remember, it was only game one and a number of adjustments and fixes will be instilled by the coaching staff between now and Saturday. You can't complain about tonight's outcome. Going up 1-0 in the series was the goal headed into this one and the Rangers delivered.
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