The New York Rangers had a pretty good showing against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1. They won the game but they didn’t dominate the game. Pittsburgh did everything they could to lose this game in horrific fashion with a parade of penalties. After a period and a half the Penguins changed their course and became the “Torts… Rangers and now they have a roadmap to keeping this series close. To me their game plan is to attack Dan Boyle whenever he hits the ice.
In the playoffs teams weaknesses get exposed. The Rangers inconsistent power play (1-5) is one of them and Boyle is the other. In over 21 minutes, way too many in my estimation but the power play time helped that, he had two giveaways and no takeaways. Whatever puck movement and passing he gives he takes away with his lagging foot speed and lack of strength in front of his goaltender as Maxim Lapierre exploited.
Henrik Lundqvist was fabulous. He’s picked up where he left off last year and now his defense has to support him. Boyle will be an issue for the rest of the playoffs for sure but the rest of the blueline has to pick up the slack.
Once again an opposing coach has figured out that Blake Comeau is a thorn in the Rangers side. He ignited Evgeni Malkin, got a goal, and has now become a factor in the series.
Marc-Andre Fleury gave up a juicy rebound on the Brassard goal and then he had a good game after that. If he has cleared a mental hurdle, like last year, this series could go 6 or 7.
You always want a team’s path to the Cup to be simple and easy in the first round and right now that doesn’t appear to be in the cards for the New York Rangers. It looks like it is for the Montreal Canadiens.
One more note. Tomorrow night’s game might be the most watched playoff game in many years for at least the first hour. The NHL Draft lottery will be a magnet for U.S. viewers of the non-playoff teams and fans who want to see where Connor McDavid’s going (assuming the NHL App doesn’t ruin that brief t.v. moment). McDavid stated today that there’s two teams he’d love to go to but failed to mention them. I’ll take a wild stab, the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Buffalo Sabres. However, I have a gut feeling the Carolina Hurricanes will win the lottery. They have an 8.5% chance.