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The New York Rangers lead the Pittsburgh Penguins in their 2nd round best of 7 series after scoring twice in overtime last night. Derek Brassard sniped home the game winner but it came out of the net so fast that play kept moving on, Benoit Pouliot then scored again for good measure.
Losing playoff overtime games is never an ideal outcome but I still found more good than bad with Game 1 from the Penguins side.
Period 1 was an abortion by the Penguins, they were terrible. The Rangers dominated them. Marc Andre Fleury let in a soft first goal and the Penguins played with no jump. There really aren’t too many excuses for starting off a playoff series like that, but it happened.
The 2nd period was the complete opposite of the 1st, the Penguins dominated the Rangers. Even though I don’t believe it will be as easy to overcome 2 goal deficits against the Rangers as it was against Columbus, the Penguins did so anyways last night.
The rest of the game both teams traded chances and both goalies stood tall.
If you are one of the people that is buying into the narrative that the Penguins should be wearing the Rangers down because of the schedule, I have some good news.
Pittsburgh had a decisive advantage in the possession department in Game 1, even after that terrible start to the game.
Per @ExtraSkater, Pens had a 54.3% CF in all situations, 54% CF at 5-on-5, and 55.7% CF in score close situations.
— Lyle Kossis (@LyleKossis) May 3, 2014
Those are really good numbers against a team who is usually on the positive side of those figures. Owning the puck will eventually tire the Rangers out, regardless of who the schedule is favorable for.
After period 1 the Rangers held a 16 to 8 shot attempts advantage (66.6%), after period 1 the Penguins held a 40-25 advantage (61.5%) for the rest of the game. That is a good formula for victory when you don’t spot the other team a 2-0 lead.
Something the Penguins aren’t good at, or at least haven’t been good at in recent memory is playoff overtime. They are 2-6 in their last 8 overtime games including 0-3 in this year’s playoffs. That isn’t a good trend. Within that sample size Mark Andre Fleury is 1-4, Vokoun was 1-2.
As for Marc Andre Fleury last night I thought that the first goal the Rangers scored was an absolute softy by him, the kind of goal that frustrates me as a player or as a coach, but he bounced back and played well enough to win the hockey game the rest of the way.
Sidney Crosby isn’t himself. Consider me all aboard the bandwagon that believes he is hurt. There really isn’t another explanation for it. For the most part Crosby has played really well in these playoffs despite whatever mystery ailment he has, last night was not at that standard. Even when Dubinsky was “shutting him down… he was still a ~60% possession player. Last night he was at 48%, which is Craig Adams-like for him. The explosive jump is missing when he carries the puck and so is the jump when the puck leaves his stick. It is just really strange to see that missing from his game when it has been a staple on an everyday basis since 2006. I personally am not buying fatigue or confidence issues as the reason for his “slump….
The Penguins are not optimally built this season, they need their star power more now than any other season since 2007.
If it is an injury to Sid, perhaps it wouldn’t be a terrible idea for Dan Bylsma to load up a line with Crosby, Malkin, and Kunitz much like he did against Columbus in an effort to extract every little bit he can get from 87. This becomes a realistic option when/if Brian Gibbons returns to the lineup.
Kunitz-Crosby-Malkin Bennett/Jokinen-Sutter-Neal Bennett/Jokinen-Goc-Stempniak Gibbons-Vitale-Glass/Adams
Considering how good Malkin has been I think he might be the only guy that gets Crosby to sniff his ceiling (whatever that may be) if my injury presumption is indeed true.
A lot was made about the Rangers 2nd goal, specifically what Matt Niskanen was doing on that play. The visuals from that play make Niskanen out to be the goat but I believe the goat is the system the Penguins use for puck retrieval in their own end. The Penguins consistently use the 2nd defender back as a support valve when they go back on pucks chipped in deep. This logic is predicated on the fact that the 1st defender who goes back for the puck is not going to flat out lose his battle like Maatta did. When the battle is lost clean and the 2nd defender has committed, you get what happened last night.
If you watch in the future this happens many times in the game and the majority of the times it works for them. The first defender wins the race to the puck and either baby chips it along to his partner or allows himself to be tied up without cleanly losing the puck battle. Personally I am not a fan of committing that 2nd defender like that, I think the risk far outweighs the minimal reward.
I counted multiple times when I saw Glass, Adams, Vitale, and Scuderi all on the ice against Nash, Stepan, and St. Louis. Sometimes this occurred right off of a defensive zone faceoff. The Penguins can’t actively choose that matchup, especially on home ice.
The overtime game winning goal sequence was frantic and chaotic but it was all caused by a pretty brutal Rob Scuderi play along the boards behind the goal line. Scuderi’s weak chip was easily intercepted and centered for the game winning goal. It was a classic 2013-2014 Scuderi play, a fruitless backhander along the wall with a negative result.
Just unacceptable.
When Orpik is back there is only one decision to make, he takes Scuderi’s spot. Orpik should not return to play with Paul Martin, he should be in a bottom pairing with Robert Bortuzzo playing sheltered minutes. Let the other 4 more mobile and skilled defenders take the lion’s share of the assignments.
The Rangers power play continues to struggle. This is certainly an area where the Penguins lucked out on. Philly would have slaughtered Pittsburgh in this department.
Game 2 is on Sunday night and I believe if the Penguins can maintain the kind of possession edge they had in Game 1 that good results will be around the corner.
The Penguins were a slick Stempniak backhand curl and drag away from a regulation win in Game 1. This series is going to be close all the way through.
Thanks for reading!
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