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Game 1: NYR 4 PHI 1, Two PPG in 47 Seconds, Three Points by Richards

April 18, 2014, 12:44 AM ET [279 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Rangers executed their game plan to a T in winning 4-1 to take a 1-0 lead in their Stanley Cup playoff series against the Flyers. Strong puck possession, keeping Philly's forwards to the outside, limiting their chances, and taking advantage of the Flyers' undisciplined play were all on display Thursday. The win was great and a perfect way to the playoffs, but it was just one game. The Flyers will likely come out even stronger in Game 2 and the Rangers will have to be day for that Sunday. But we have two days to enjoy the victory before that becomes the focus.

Game Highlights:



While the score after two was even at 1-1, the Rangers had controlled play much of the 40 minutes. Despite spending much of the early part of the first period in the Flyers zone, the Rangers came up empty and Philly drew first blood. Scott Hartnell laid a heavy check on a rusty Ryan McDonagh, resulting in the turnover, and the puck came back to Andrew MacDonald. He blasted a shot, which deflected off of Martin St. Louis and behind Henrik Lundqvist. That was the Flyers' sole highlight and the better news was that McDonagh shook off the rust and got better as the game wore on.

The lead lasted just three minutes. Brian Boyle's line had a strong shift and thereafter the Rangers scored. Marc Staal did a good job keeping the puck in and Benoit Pouliot was able to fight off a check to maintain possession. Mats Zuccarello retrieved the puck, got a shot on net and then captured his rebound to beat Ray Emery five-hole,

New York was able to control to dominate puck possession and territorial play the remainder of the first and the second. Despite that, the score was even after two. New York's best chance came when Derick Brassard beat Emery but hit the post while Henrik Lundqvist was string when necessary,which wasn't that frequent, as he faced just 15 shots all game.

In the third, play rally turned when NY killed off a McDonagh high-stick penalty. Rick Nash, who had five shots in the first, and Derek Stepan, who played a key role later, blunted the man-advantage almost on their own. Then came the key moment. Jason Akeson, who might have been the Flyers' best forward throughout, took a double-minor following through on a check on Carl Hagelin in which his stick got up in Hagelin's face cutting him.

The first goal was scored after Stepan did a nice job gaining the zone with the puck. He dished it back to Martin St. Louis, who gave the puck back to Stepan and then it went down low to Nash. He sent a backhand in front to St. Louis, and the blocked shot came over to Brad Richards, who blasted it past Emery. Early in the year, we noted how Richards looked much more confident and willing to shoot from all angles. On this goal, he wasted no time releasing the puck top-shelf.

Forty-seconds later it was 3-1. Lost in the goal was the great play made by St. Louis, who after losing the puck, put a good hit on the Flyers d-man, allowing Richards to gain possession. Richards out it cross-ice to a McDonagh, who made Couturier lose his jock with an inside-out juke and passed the puck to St. Louis. The Flyers box was all over the place, so when St. Louis gave the puck back to Richards, he was able to find a wide-open Stepan down low for an easy goal into the yawning net, aided by good pressure in front of the net by Nash.

Philly took another dumb penalty, this one slash by Giroux at 12:01. The Flyers killed it off and less than two minutes later, nearly made it 3-2. Kimmo Timonen's shot hit the post and the deep carom enabled the Rangers to break out 3-on-3. Richards carried the puck into the offensive zone, his shot was deflected by Jesper Fast - his first ever point in the NHL - and Hagelin was left untouched to tap in the rebound. That gave Richards three points in the game, and yes, everyone is saying if he does get amnestied, he got off to a great start. To me, that is to be discussed down the road, right now, the focus needs to be on the here and now. Emery's difficulties with going side-to-side quickly after his hip surgery was evident on the goal and it was 4-1.

Any thoughts the Flyers had of making it closer was lost with two more undisciplined penalties the last four-plus minutes of the game. New York held Philly to one shot in the third and 15 for the game, in addition, they won 26 of 49 faceoffs, with only Giroux solid for Philly between the dots, winning 9-of-14. The Rangers maintained their composure and made Philly pay, they need to keep doing that as we know that the Flyers will continue to take undisciplined penalties, as it is their nature to do so.

The Boyle line did a great job bottling up the Hartnell-Giroux-Voracek line throughout, holding the latter two without a shot the entire contest. The first three lines generated pressure throughout, bottling up the Flyers in their own zone. When Philly gained the Rangers zone, the six defensemen were able to parry that attack, aided by the forwards, and go from D to O. When Hank had to come up big, he did as seen on a pad save on Couturier. Hard to find any criticism in the win, special teams came up big, both on PP and PK while they scored twice at even strength. That said, as said above, it's one win. All NY was what we hoped they would do, which is hold serve at home. Now, they have to do it again to gain a good hold on the series, which is something they failed to do in the past. This team has shown more of an ability to score, which bodes well moving forward.
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