The Rangers sent their Eastern Conference series against Tampa Bay to a Game 7 back at MSG with a 7-3 victory Tuesday. Two first period goals gave New York a 2-1 lead heading into the second period. In that frame, it was all Henrik Lundqvist, since as you will see in the chart, the Lightning controlled play. In the final stanza, the Rangers upped their forecheck, creating chances and opportunities that they converted into five goals and the 7-3 win.
I wrote yesterday that I felt scoring first would be a major key. The Rangers answered that bell with a goal from Derick Brassard, something that would repeat itself twice more in the game. Rick Nash got to the puck on a faceoff draw, putting back to the line, where Dan Boyle kept it in the zone. Boyle out a slapper towards the net that Tyler Johnson blocked with his stick. But J.T. Miller retrieved the puck, put a beautiful pass in front to Brassard, who scored a backhand past Ben Bishop.
Lundqvist helped keep the Lightning scoreless with a save against Steven Stamkos with 5:46 left in the first period. With Marc Staal in the box for holding Brenden Morrow's stick, Stamkos was stone in front when Lundqvist stretched his left pad across the crease to keep the puck out. After the penalty expired and just over a minute later, it was 2-0. Keith Yandle scored his second of the postseason at 15:30 of the period on a shot from the point that deflected off J.T. Brown in front of the net and past Bishop over his shoulder.
Tampa Bay cut the lead to 2-1 on Ryan Callahan's first goal of the postseason and first playoff goal since May 19, 2013 against the Bruins, a span of 24 games, at 17:20 of the first period. After Chris Kreider took a stupid penalty for cross-checking Stamkos, Anton Stralman made a pass through the neutral zone and sent Callahan on a breakaway. He put a backhand shot past Lundqvist, who seemed to react late. Of course, if the officials had called what should have been a penalty on Stamkos for his hit on McDonagh, none of that would happened. But Kreider needs to be smarter, as his first hit was legal and knocked Stamkos down but his second was pointless and resulted in the penalty despite his retaliating for what he thought was an illegal hit on McDonagh.
The shots were 16-7 Tampa but that was just the prelude to their second period, where they dominated, as seen by the graph below. Lundqvist was the sole reason why the score remained 2-1, setting up the big third.
What the heck happened to the lightning in the third? http://t.co/71CezG3nGl pic.twitter.com/CE8fKPyfKw
— hockeystats.ca (@HockeyStatsCa) May 27, 2015Lundqvist stoned Brian Boyle midway through the second period. Moments after Nikita Kucherov finished serving a hooking penalty, he fed Boyle in the slot for a one-timer, but Lundqvist denied it with his left pad. Later, he stopped Brown to keep the Rangers in the lead. Johnson nearly tied it with 40 seconds left in the period, when he came down on a 2-on-1 with Ondrej Palat and made a move around McDonagh, who did push him wide helping Lundqvist handle Johnson's wrist shot to keep it 2-1 after two.
For New York, the floodgates opened in the third. A combination of great forechecking and passing resulted in the four goals, excluding the empty netter. The end result was a 7-3 victory and trip back to MSG for Game 7.
Miller gave the Rangers a 3-1 lead with his first goal of the playoffs at 3:02 of the third period. Nash started an odd-man rush through the neutral zone and fed Miller, who took a shot from the left circle that was stopped by Bishop. Brassard found the rebound and was stopped by Bishop was lying on his back. But Brassard retrieved the puck behind the net and fed Miller, who had gotten inside position on Stamkos and banked it off Bishop.
The fourth line then got in the act. Great forechecking on the boards by Tanner Glass and James Sheppard kept the puck in the zone. The puck came to Dominic Moore in the slot but his wrist shot was denied by Bishop. Glass crashed the net, not allowing Bishop to cover it up and Sheppard also crashed the net, knocking the puck behind Bishop for his first of the postseason to make it 4-1.
The top line used their forecheck to create the fifth goal. Nash made the play initially, creating a turnover, after which he made a drop pass to Miller, who then made a cross-ice feed to Brassard at the right circle for a slap shot. Brassard had most of the net to shoot at and he didn't miss, scoring his second goal of the game at 7:14. That ended Bishop's night, as Jon Cooper pulled him for Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Of course, the Rangers don't like making it easy, as Nikita Kucherov scored for the Lightning 36 seconds later with a wrist shot from the slot to make it 5-2. That shot came after a faceoff win but it was one Hank should have stopped but he reacted slowly and was deep in his crease. My concern level ratcheted up a notch but the big boys answered the bell again.
Nash gave New York a four-goal lead on a power play at 10:21. The point shot went wide and Nash had a few whacks before putting it past Vasilevskiy. The marker was Nash's fifth goal of the playoffs and gave him a goal and three assists in the contest.
Kucherov made it 6-3 with his second goal of the game at 13:21 when he took a cross-ice feed from Johnson and lifted it over Lundqvist. The pass and the shot were beautiful but the defense was poor. Kevin Klein reacted slowly and allowed Kucherov to get past him, resulting in the goal. More on Klein later.
The Lightning pulled Vasilevskiy with over five minutes to go and even though they had a power play when Dan Girardi batted a puck out of midair and over the glass, New York was solid down the stretch. Brassard completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal from center ice at 18:19. It was the Rangers’ first playoff hat trick since Michael Nylander’s in Game 3 of the first round against Atlanta in 2007, and the first hat trick in an elimination game since Mark Messier did it in Game 6 of the conference finals against the Devils in 1994 (nice symmetry between the two contests, as Messier's and Brassard's came in elimination games in the ECF with the final score coming into an empty net).
Keys:
Top line for NY - Miller, had a goal and three assists, his first career multi-point game in the playoffs, giving him seven points in the last eight games, with five of his seven playoff assists primary assist. Nash had a goal and three assists. Brassard with the hat trick and two assists. That line has been rolling since getting paired late in Game 3 and will remain together obviously for Game 7.
Staal-Klein/Yandle-Boyle - Staal and Klein have struggled at times during the series. Klein hasn't been the same since coming back from his injury that cost him the last 11 games of the season. Staal has been up and down, with his usual consistency not on display, especially this round.
Yandle had a goal and an assist in Game 6, giving him two goals and five assists in the past four games. As Carp wrote, he has been an aggressive defender, a creative offensive threat, and has limited his turnovers, which plagued him the first couple months of his Rangers’ tenure. Boyle has really stepped up his game as well, getting better as the playoffs have moved along.
With Yandle and Boyle playing better, does AV move the duo up to the second line and have them much up against the Triplets or Stamkos line? If not, does he swap Klein and Yandle to break up the struggling duo?
Fourth line play - We rightly ripped Glass earlier this year but he has been a beast in the playoffs. He has been physical, strong on the forecheck and fairly solid defensively, other than the neutral zone misplay in Game 5. Sheppard has fit in nicely on the line while Moore just continues to make plays, able to move between lines and roles seamlessly.
Lundqvist - Lundqvist, who made 36 saves, stopped 15 shots in the first period and all 13 he faced in the second. That play in the second, as noted above, preserved a slim one-goal lead heading into the third. Lundqvist wasn't great in the third but he didn't need to be. He is 9-1 in elimination games since the start of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs and 6-1 with a 0.97 goals-against average in Game 7.
Tampa Bay side: Will Cally move up to top line with Stamkos to replace Killorn, who has struggled lately?
Bishop has been shaky, especially side-to-side movement. New York needs to crash the net and forecheck as they did yesterday. Plus, move the puck in the zone to get Bishop going from side-to-side. Will Cooper go with Vasilevskiy?
As Steve Valiquette pointed out, Tampa likely to use a I-line D. As seen by Yandle's goal, that style could lead to deflections, if New York gets traffic in front. That is the key. Getting the traffic in front to create deflections and chances.
History: The Rangers improved to 15-3, including 4-0 this spring, when facing elimination since the start of the 2012 playoffs.
The Blueshirts have won 10 consecutive elimination games at Madison Square Garden and are 7-0 in their history in Game 7s there. They have won six consecutive Game 7s dating to 2009, including a 2-1 overtime win over Washington at the Garden in this year’s second round.
Since street meat and Margot Robbie are helping drive the good karma, as requested:
Of course as we have seen this series, there has no been no to minimal carryover from game to game. The two days off could up the pressure on Tampa Bay or enable them to further wipe this bad taste from their mouths. The next 48+ hours will be crazy and will get even more so as game time Friday approaches.
Happy 10th birthday to my youngest daughter Kyra. We love you very much.