The Rangers clinched the first place in the Eastern Conference and the Presidents' Trophy with a 4-2 win over the Devils on Tuesday. In a game that was extremely chipping, the Rangers dominated the action, outshooting the Devils, 40-21, and out-attempting them, 57-37, but headed into the third only up 2-1. That slim margin was due to the fine play of Cory Schneider as well as a power play that was 1-for-7 in 10:40 of man-advantage time. The two sides exchanged goals in under a minute in the last stanza, but an empty netter by Carl Hagelin sealed the win.
This win was driven by the play of the Hagelin, Kevin Hayes and Martin St. Louis as well as Cam Talbot, who was good when he needed to be. The Derick Brassard line had a very average game, save for a few moments by Rick Nash, while the Derek Stepan wasn't that noticeable, though Chris Kreider made his presence felt while on the ice. I thought the fourth line was solid again, beyond just the one goal that James Sheppard scored. If the bottom trip can be effective, it's a major plus for the Rangers, which was the case last season during the playoff run.
Hayes with a goal and two assists now has 16 and 27 on the year. Plus, he has 14 points his last 19 games. As we have said before, where would this team be without him? He is a big center and provides great depth down the middle, making what was a perceived weakness coming into the year to now become a strength.
Two other aspects that have been noticeable, each of which Carp brought up, the defense's ability to pinch and create chances and turning faceoff losses or 50-50 ones into puck possession. The first one we have discussed a lot. We know what Keith Yandle and Dan Boyle can do offensively, but we have also have seen Ryan McDonagh, Dan Girardi and Marc Staal and Kevin Klein and Matt Hunwick pinch and create chances. They can do that because the forwards rotate back to cover for them at the point. The D's willingness and ability to generate offense takes pressure off the forwards, but can leave them vulnerable to counter-attacks or odd-man rushes, even when the forward rotates back.
Faceoffs have been an issue all year. A big argument is how critical are they and if poor in between the dots, would that portend danger. To me, winning draws enables you to control the puck, but if you do nothing with it or lose the puck immediately, it doesn't matter. Defensively, it may be even more important to win a draw, especially late in a game when protecting a lead to keep the puck away from the opponent. What NY has been able to do, especially recently, is recover when losing or tying a draw to get the puck. Their strong forecheck has resulted in opportunities that wouldn't be apparent from the stats if you went just by faceoff wins
First team to clinch a playoff spot this season Winners of the Metropolitan Division First place Eastern Conference Winners 2014-2015 President's Trophy
All that is great. But as Carp wrote this AM, Don La Greca tweeted this: “Since the inception of the Presidents’ Trophy in 85-86. 6 teams lost in the 1st round. 6 in the 2nd. 5 conference final. 3 SCF. 8 won Cup." So in 28 years, eight have won the Cup, the last Eastern Conference team to do so was the Rangers in 93-94. Meaning, that while this is nice, it guarantees nothing. The below quote from Ryan McDonagh shows that, especially the bolded part.
“Having lost in the finals, the most important thing for us coming into the year was to make sure we would make the playoffs so we would get another chance at it,… Ryan McDonagh said. “This is a great accomplishment for sure, and especially in a season where we had so many key guys go down. But ultimately we’re going to be remembered for what we do in the next round. By what we do in the playoffs.…
The preliminaries, e.g. regular season, is just about over. The main event is near. The four items noted above are great, what i want is four more win checks, Division Semis, Division Finals, Eastern conference and Stanley Cup Finals.