The Rangers jumped to a 1-0 series lead thanks to a 2-0 win Tuesday over the Canadiens. Montreal carried play in the first but New York ended the period up 1-0 thanks to a Tanner Glass goal. Following that period, New York limited Montreal's space in the neutral and offensive zone to earn the win.
Overall Highlights:
Some thoughts:
- Montreal outhit the Rangers 53-45 but New York was willing to take the punishment to make plays. The Canadiens challenged Mats Zuccarello throughout, hitting him at every chance they could, including by two men in the corners in the offensive zone. But Zuccarello, like the Rangers all night, kept coming.
- New York limited their mistakes. The Rangers had 15 giveaways to the Canadiens' 21 but Montreal had 12 takeaways to New York's two. One big turnover by New York and takeaway by Montreal was late in the game and the score still 1-0. Fortunately, the Rick Nash turnover didn't come back to haunt the.
- Coming into the game, most of the talk was how Carey Price had been outstanding while Henrik Lundqvist had struggled. Here are some examples:
.940 Price’s all-time save percentage against the Rangers, which rose to .968 his last 12 starts .898 Henrik Lundqvist’s all-time save percentage against the Canadiens, along with a 3.87 GAA and .877 save percentage in his 15 regular-season games in the Bell Centre 15-5-0-1 Price’s all-time record against the Rangers, including 11-0-1 in the last 12 games. 14-17-0-3 Lundqvist’s all-time record against the Canadiens.
Guess what, throw all those numbers out the window. Lundqvist was solid overall and brilliant when needed, matching Price save for save with each goalie making 31 saves. One example of his brilliance was this save on Shea Weber:
HOLY HENRIK! 😱 #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/GxHdHF5Nur
— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) April 13, 2017
With the win, Lundqvist earned his 10th career NHL playoff shutout in tonight’s contest, and he passed Mike Richter to become the Rangers’ all-time leader in playoff shutouts. It was his 56th win in 117 playoff games. In addition, with the victory, consider these numbers: Lundqvist has posted a 5-1 record, along with a 1.82 GAA, a .935 SV%, and 2 SO in 7 career playoff appearances against Montreal.
- All four lines and six d-men were solid, but it was the fourth line that won the game. Beyond the Tanner Glass goal, Oscar Lindberg, Jesper Fast and Glass were consistent with their forechecking, limiting time and space. In fact, the whole team was able to do so. Montreal had little space in the neutral and offensive zone. Great stick work by the Blueshirts, as they repeatedly deflected pucks or prevented clean tape to tape passes. That slowed down the Montreal attack.
- Sixteen, nine and six. That's was the shots per period. Lundqvist carried New York in the first. Then, the team shook off the rust that likely built up the last 10 days or so due to all the scratches and lack of juice in each of those games. The Rangers followed the game plan to a T, and when Montreal had a good scoring chance, Lundqvist made the save.
- On the flip side, after notching just five shots in the first, New York posted 13 in each of the last two periods. They didn't sit on the lead, but kept trying to create chances. That prevented Montreal from carrying play and making the game one sided.
- The goal was some strong work by the Glass. Lindberg basically was even on the draw and the puck was near the dot. Glass was just trying to put a shot on net when he beat Price top shelf over the shoulder. That one goal stood up thanks to Lundqvist.
The goal of the game:
FINAL: @NYRangers (2) - @CanadiensMTL (0)@Discover Recap: https://t.co/5oRYOFyqhq#MTLvsNYR #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/BPQzefLVIe
— NHL (@NHL) April 13, 2017
- Special teams were even. The Rangers were unable to capitalize on a 5-on-3 for just under a minute and went 0-for-4 on the PP. But Montreal went 0-for-3 on their PP, as the PK was extremely solid.
- New York did a solid job of allowing Lundqvist to see the puck, even when there were screens. Lundqvist had a clear line of sight to each of those shots, a the D kept the Montreal forward to the side, enabling Lundqvist to see the shot over the player
- Brendan Smith might have had his best game as a Ranger. Physical while making the simple play. He and Brady Skjei were by far the best duo last night.
- The Road Warriors do it again. After posting 27 wins in the regular season on the road, New York gets the job done in Game 1 on the road.
- Steven Kampfer signed a two year extension after the game with the Rangers. $650 000 AAV (2 way). Interesting due to the upcoming expansion.
It's just one game, a long way to go in this series. Montreal will come out even harder in Game 2 to send the series back to MSG even at one. But New York gets to enjoy this one for a day or so.