The Rangers dominated the first period en route to a 4-1 win over the Senators on Tuesday. In front of a packed MSG house that was loud and into it from the National Anthems, New York started the game physical and upped that quotient as the period continued. The Rangers led 2-0 and it easily could have been 4-0. Each time Ottawa made a push, Henrik Lundqvist was up the task, and while he wasn't heavily tested, Lundqvist made key saves when needed, finishing with 26 stops while earning his 60th playoff win. The victory was New York's third straight playoff win at home. Game 4 is Thursday night.
Game Highlights:
Coach Alain Vigneault did make one change in personnel from Games 1 and 2, sitting Pavel Buchnevich and playing Tanner Glass. The line combinations were as we saw Monday in practice:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Zucc (no change from second period on Saturday) Vesey-Stepan-Nash (Vesey back where he started the series) Grabner-Hayes-Fast (same as how Saturday's game ended) Miller-Lindberg-Glass (Miller down, Glass in)
I will wholeheartedly admit that I was not in favor of the change. But Glass did bring a physical element and an emotional component that may have been lacking the past two games. With the win, look for no changes in Game 4, since we know that AV is loathe to mess with a winning lineup.
My three keys heading into Game 3 were:
1) Traffic in front of Anderson
New York was okay in that regard, even on the power play. While the PP didn't score - it was 0-for-3 - I actually thought it had some good looks, partially due to traffic in front. Plus, if you look at the goals below, you see three of them were in front of the net, created by the solid forecheck and players in front pf Anderson.
2) Create offense from forwards 5v5:
Look at the graph here, what you see is massive clustering of shots in the crease. That mostly came from the forwards. All four goals were scored by forwards. all four came at even strength and each of the four lines had a tally. AV rolled four lines, with no one seeing less than 10 minutes (Glass) and no one playing more than 15:12 (Zucc) at even strength. By doing so, and granted it was aided by the score, all players remained involved and no one got worn out, which should be a positive for Thursday.
Overwhelming 5v5 offence from New York. pic.twitter.com/Qu77HcxKiU
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) May 3, 2017
Zucc goal: (goos peed entering the zone, Zib sticks with the play and make a brilliant feed to Zucc, who beats Anderson short-side. The KZZ line was rolling in this one)
Mika Zibanejad makes a beautiful pass to Mats Zuccarello who puts one past a moving Craig Anderson!
— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) May 2, 2017
(1-0 #NYR)#NYRvsOTT pic.twitter.com/DOhvlWWp7f
Grabner goal: (fourth line with excellent shift just before the goal. Again, a good forecheck to get the puck behind the net, misplay by Ben Harpur and Anderson is too far out of his goal, allowing Grabner to score on the wrap-around)
Michael Grabner takes advantage of Craig Anderson's turnover and dunks an easy goal!
— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) May 2, 2017
(#NYR 2-0)#NYRvsOTT pic.twitter.com/CRqjuNxWOI
Nash goal: (nice play by Vesey to get puck to Stepan and play was aided by Karlsson and Stone colliding and falling down on at Rangers' blue line. Really good play by Nash to recognize the situation and stay onside. Stepan got puck to Nash early and he picked out a spot top shelf and put it in off Anderson's stick)
Nash goal. #NYR #Sens pic.twitter.com/pwX0XJ7XLD
— Dave Shapiro (@BlueSeatBlogs) May 3, 2017
Lindberg goal: (great breakout from own zone and puck possession by Miller. Glass likely interfered with Phaneuf, providing Miller more room. But he made the play and Lindberg created space enabling him to score, despite shanking the shot).
JT Miller makes a tremendous play and finds Oscar Lindberg who slams it into the net to extend the Rangers lead!
— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) May 3, 2017
(#NYR 4-0)#NYRvsOTT pic.twitter.com/085IMjMFKo
3) Commitment to defense
You saw it from the opening draw. In the first period, forwards backchecked and the d-men were in the right position. That was the case nearly all of the first, as NY was up 15-5 in shots. In the second, Ottawa carried play, but for the most, the same commitment to D was there, limiting the high danger chances. McDonagh made a horrible play on the goal by Pageau - who is John Druce 2.0 - chasing the puck when G was there on the other side of the net, leaving Psgeau open. Granted, it was a great pass by Bobby Ryan, but if McD is in the right position, he likely picks it off. In the third, it was more of the same, even on the penalty kill, where NY went 3-for-3. This shows that when effort exists continually and not sporadically, it makes a huge difference.
Other reasons for the win:
4) Proper deployment of the defense
We having been pleading for AV to make Skjei-Smith the second pairing. As seen by the 5v5 minutes, it's clear that what happened. Hopefully AV continues this moving forward in the series.
Final even strength time on ice #NYR defensemen (total TOI in parenthesis) McDonagh- 21:48 (26:13) Skjei- 19:07 (20:13) Smith- 18:39 (19:39) Girardi- 18:13 (20:00) Staal- 14:34 (16:17) Holden- 12:30 (14:29)
5) Speed kills
When the Rangers got their speed game going, Ottawa couldn't keep up. New York has more skill overall than the Senators. Definitely not every player and not every line or pairing, but overall, that's the case. If New York can play the speed/skill game as they did Tuesday, they can break the neutral zone trap and create odd-man rushes or forecheck opportunities, as they did in the win. When the first period ended, Ottawa trailed 2-0, had been outshot 15-5 and out-attempted 26-12, largely due to both speed and the Rangers' forecheck. The Senators were outshot 30-27 and out-attempted 56-54 by the end of the game.
One area that still needs work is discipline and smart play. Too many silly icing, resulting in own-zone draws. Same with penalties, especially when on the PP, which happened twice, shortening man-advantages. Don't give Ottawa easy chances, make it difficult for them to score. But overall, hard to criticize much given the team's effort. Expect Ottawa, who were out of it for much of the game and didn't appear ready to play, to be much better, especially starting the game, Thursday.
The Senators might have a different lineup due to injuries. Zack Smith only skated three first period shifts totalling 1:50. His last shift began at 9:03 of the first and ended at 9:27 before leaving with what the team called "an upper body injury." Ryan left with about 12 minutes left in the game after being struck by a Karlsson shot to one of his legs. Boucher said the team will "reassess" whether one or both can play in Game 4 tomorrow. If one is out, look for Tom Pyatt to play. If it's both, it likely will be Pyatt and either Chris Kelly, Colin White or Chris Neil, the latter might get the look if Boucher wants to provide some toughness to match against Glass.
Playoff Schedule: Ottawa Senators (A2) vs. New York Rangers (WC1) Thursday, April 27, Ottawa 2 Rangers 1, Ottawa leads series 1-0 Saturday, April 29, Ottawa 6 NY Rangers 5, Ottawa leads series 2-0 Tuesday, May 2, NY Rangers 4 Ottawa 1 |Ottawa leads series 2-1 Thursday, May 4, 7:30pm: Ottawa @ NY Rangers | NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports Saturday, May 6, 3pm: NY Rangers @ Ottawa | NBC, CBC, TVA Sports *Tuesday, May 9, TBD: Ottawa @ NY Rangers | TBD *Thursday, May 11, TBD: NY Rangers @ Ottawa | TBD