The Rangers kicked off their Eastern Conference Finals series against the Lightning with a 2-1 victory. Derek Stepan scored with 13 seconds left in the second to give New York a 1-0 lead. Ondrej Palat's powe play goal with 6:45 into the third tied it at 1 but Dominic Moore's leg was in the right place at the right time with 2:25 left to give New York the win.
Adjustments. The playoffs are all about them. During the year, changes will be made but they sometimes can't be seen that clearly because you are playing a different opponent each night. In the postseason, patters develop and styles of play are very visible because you are seeing the same opponent for at least four and sometimes seven games. Against Pittsburgh and Washington, patterns and styles of play were extremely evident. We expected the series against Tampa Bay to be much different, as speed and open-ice play were to be at the forefront. In addition, the Lightning's talent up front was to make this a harder series. To counter that, coach Alain Vigenault made several changes for Game 1, noted in the blocked sections with the end result below that.
AV flipped Martin St. Louis and Kevin Hayes, bumping Hayes up to the unit with Derick Brassard and Rick Nash while shifting MSL onto the unit with Carl Hagelin and Dominic Moore
The creation of a bigger line, with a pair 6-4 players bookending Brassard, enabled the Rangers to control play down low, especially early, when they established the tone of the game. New York out-attempted the Lightning 54-37 at even-strength.
AV matched the Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Jesper Fast line against Triplets Ryan Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov. Defensively, Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi were on ice against that trio as well.
That line tallied the first goal while limiting the opportunities of the high-scoring Tampa line. Palat did score but it was on the man-advantage. The play of the McD-G enabled AV to leave that duo against that trio, resulting in the next point below.
The Brassard line and the Marc Staal-Dan Boyle pair took care of the second line of Steven Stamkos, Valeri Filppula and Alex Killorn, dominating that matchup. After struggling early in the playoffs, Boyle has lately, starting with the back-end of the Washington series, played his best hockey as a Ranger at both ends of the ice.
AV made his adjustment, now expect Jon Cooper to do the same. Ryan Callahan, playing six days after undergoing an appendectomy on Monday, wasn’t his usual effective physical self. He should be much better Monday. As soon, Cooper will like move Cally back to the first line wing and Stamkos to center, shifting Killorn back to the third line with Cedric Paquette and Jonathan Marchessault.
From Pat Leonard: New York’s defensemen stepped high to center ice when passes emerged from Tampa’s defensive zone, complementing their forwards’ stick work with a physical presence to pressure the Lightning forwards into split-second decisions and frequent giveaways. Regaining possession, the Rangers’ defensemen made frequent diagonal cross-ice passes against the weakness of Tampa’s structure — “they played back a little bit,… Dan Girardi said — sending the Blueshirts’ forwards into the offensive zone with speed.
Two adjustments there. Stepping high on D to force Tampa into quicker than expected decisions, leading to mistakes. Then capitalizing on those mistakes by getting back to the diagonal pass, which was largely taken away the first two rounds, save for a few instances. Look for Tampa to try and spring their forwards behind the Rangers D to create odd-man rushes or at least make New York slide back a step or two, creating space and time.
I thought Keith Yandle and Kevin Klein were solid as well, meaning that all six D-men contributed. Offensively, the team generated chances but were unable to finish. The first goal was the result of strong work down low and Bishop losing his goal stick to Kreider in front. On the second, Hayes outmuscled Cally to create space and Moore got good position on Anton Stralman. You can call the goal luck, but it came after hard work to get in the right place.
The one-goal game has become the norm for the Rangers. They have now played 15 consecutive one-goal playoff games and 18 of 19 dating back to last year. In addition, nine this year have been 2-1 scores, with New York winning seven of them. The Rangers are comfortable in these type of games. They stick to the system and don't deviate at all. New York doesn't get flustered or lose focus during the games, in fact, they seem to be more poised than expected. We would love to see more scoring, especially in games where they dominate early, but maybe it's just not to be. The heart-palpitations, racing pulses, main-biting style of play is here to stay, so we better just keep being used to it.
Once they get a lead after two, New York is almost lights out. The Rangers have won 41 of 42 games this season when leading after two periods, which includes a 5-0 mark in the playoffs. Granted, that doesn't mean it's easy or totally locked down, but with Henrik Lundqvist in net and the system in place, you better be even or have a lead when the third starts or you are in big trouble.
Adjustments. AV made his now it's time for Cooper to respond, which he will. Game 2 should be interesting to see how the chess match plays out. Looking forward to Monday night.
(As mentioned, I am out Friday for Game 4 and Game 5 (if necessary) is on a Jewish holiday. If anyone wants to do a recap blog after Game 4 and preview blog before Game 5, if necessary, please let me know)