The Rangers and Capitals renew their playoff rivalry, meeting for the ninth time overall and fifth time in past seven years. Washington advanced to the “division finals… by virtue of their 2-1 Game 7 win over the Islanders. The Rangers moved to the next round following their four games to one series win over Pittsburgh, including a 2-1 overtime win Friday.
For those that go back to the Patrick Division, there is a rich playoff history, positively and negatively for the Rangers against the Capitals. The Rangers beat the Caps to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1985-86. I still hate the name John Druce and NY lost to Washington in 1989-90 and 90-91. The 1994 team moved to the Eastern Conference Finals and ultimately a Cup after defeating Washington 4-1 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The 2008-09 series is most remember for Avery and Torts, resulting in a 3-1 blown series lead and the Caps won 4-1 in 2010-11. New York defeated the Capitals in seven games in 2012 to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals and in seven games in 2013 to move to the second round.
This year, during the regular season the Rangers were 3-1 against the Capitals with 13 goals for, 10 against and 117 shots on goal for and 116 against. Two of those meetings came late in the season, in Games 75 and 82. Game 75 came after NY had already clinched a playoff spot while Game 82 was a meaningless game for the Rangers. Washington had a ton to play for in each game, but we pretty much can discount the regular season now that the playoffs are well underway with one round under each team’s belt.
Lineups:
New York:
Nash-Brassard-St. Louis; Kreider-Stepan-Miller; Hagelin-Hayes-Fast; Glass-Moore-Sheppard
McDonagh-Girardi Staal-Boyle Yandle-Klein
Lundqvist
New PP units today: Kreider-Stepan-St.Louis-Brassard-Boyle Nash-Hayes-Miller-McDonagh-Hunwick (Hunwick in for Yandle, who will practice tomorrow)
Washington:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Ward Johansson-Kuznetsov-Chimera Burakovsky-Beagle-Brouwer Glencross-Laich-Wilson
Could see Latta for Glencross and Beagle/Laich switch lines
Gleason-Green Niskanen-Alzner Orpik-Carlson
Holtby
A few keys for me for the Rangers to advance, some of which were mentioned in the comments:
Take the punishment. Washington’s strategy against the Islanders was to chip the puck in deep and punish the Islanders defense. A similar tactic could be utilized here in this series. For the Rangers, they will need to do a few things: take the punishment without retaliating (especially when Tom Wilson is on the ice as he is an agitator) or shunning away from the contact. Use their speed to take advantage of Washington’s hard forecheck to counter-attack using quick outlet and stretch passes. Be positionally sound to compensate if a defenseman is knocked down or beaten to the puck. Make sure the forwards backcheck as they have during the season.
Compensate for absence of Zuccarello. New York has dealt with injuries all season. Lundqvist, McDonagh, Boyle and Klein all missed time. But, the offense was pretty healthy all year long. If any games were missed, it wasn’t for an extended period. Now, a top-six forward and one who plays much bigger than his size and is a perfect complement on his line is out indefinitely. The mantra all year has been “next man up.… That is the case again. In this case, as noted above the changes are MSL to the top line, Fast up to the third line and Sheppard back in the lineup. Sheppard had a strong post-season for San Jose last year and his size and physical play will be a major plus this series. In addition, MSL, Kreider and Nash, who didn’t have great series against Pittsburgh, need to elevate their games, as mentioned in the blog comments.
Be responsible defensively. Pittsburgh, beyond Crosby and Malkin, lacked the true weapons or at least the depth of weapons to pose major threats. While the focus will be on Ovechkin and Backstrom, the Caps offense is much, much deeper than that. We saw the last three games why everyone is so high on Kuznetsov. The you add in Ward, Johannson and Brouwer along with Chimera, Laich and Glencross, when he is in, and they have depth. On the blue line, Green still can be dangerous while Carlson has become a top-tier d-man and Niskanen has settled in after a slow start. New York will need to be as responsible defensively as they were in Round 1 but cognizant of the better skill level for the Washington skaters. Washington dealt with a depleted Islanders defense, so they too will not need to get used to facing a solid 1-6 on the blue line, presuming the “illness… Yandle has doesn’t impede him.
Speed. Speed. Speed. Washington is not slow but several Rangers have top-level speed. They need to use that speed to create mismatches and odd-man rushes. As I noted above, while being physical, use the speed to counter the bulk of Washington, who is the biggest team in the playoffs. The Capitals blue line is much improved, so NY can’t just target Green as they did years ago.
Stay out of the box. We know that Washington loves to tilt the ice, then go cross-ice to Ovi for the one-timer on the PP. They were just 2-for-13 in the first round but led the league with a 25.3% success rate (60-for-237). Dan Rosen pointed out that Ovechkin had 25 of his 53 goals on the man-advantage, including four of the five he scored against the Rangers. Penalties will happen, however, you can’t take stupid or retaliatory ones in general or especially in situations where momentum changes. On the flip side, Washington’s penalty kill snuffed out all 14 Islanders PP, which doesn’t bode well for a struggling and reshuffled again Rangers power play unit. This battle, as we have discussed before, could decide the playoffs. If it’s a stalemate, the Rangers have even a better chance of winning.
Win the goaltending battle. You may say what, the Rangers have Lundqvist, are you crazy. No, I am not. Holtby took a major step forward this year under Barry Trotz and Mitch Korn. Holtby had a 1.63 GAA and .943 SV% compared to Lundqvist’s 1.53 and .939, respectively. Historically, Lundqvist has outplayed Holtby – as he has done to lots of other goalies – but Holtby enters the series at the top of his game. Lundqvist may have to deal with the same traffic in front he faced against Pittsburgh while the Rangers have to get Holtby moving from side-to-side as he, like most goalies, are excellent when squared up.
Schedule:
Game 1: Thursday April 30 at 7:30PM (Home) NBCSN Game 2: Saturday May 2 at 12:30PM (Home) NBC Game 3: Monday May 4 at 7:30PM (Away) NBCSN Game 4: Wednesday May 6 at 7:30PM (Away) NBCSN *Game 5: Friday May 8 at 7PM (Home) NBCSN *Game 6: Sunday May 10 TBD (Away) *Game 7: (If Tampa Bay Advances) Wednesday May 13th TBD (Home) *Game 7: (If Detroit Bay Advances) Tuesday May 12th TBD (Home)