The Rangers dominated action to take a 1-0 series lead over the Lightning with a 6-2 win Wednesday at MSG. New York drove the action and dominated much of the play, though Tampa did have moments where they pinned the Rangers in their own zone. The season of Filip Chytil continued yesterday, as the 22-year-old Czech winger had a pair of tallies, giving him five in the past three games. Game 2 is Friday at 8PM at MSG.
Game recap:
A few thoughts:
1)
The Kid Line - what a game for the three kids, especially Chytil. The entire trio contributed to the win with Chytil leading the way with his pair of goals. Chytil, who had eight goals in 67 regular-season games in his fourth NHL season, now has seven goals in 15 playoff games, just the fifth Ranger to have that many in one postseason before his 23rd birthday. The uptick we saw in his play as the season wore on continued in the first round but really became prominent and prevalent late last round and continued Wednesday.
Tampa rode a balanced lineup, including a third line of Barclay Goodrow skating with Yanni Gourde and Blake Coleman, to back-to-back Cups. When New York made their run in the early-to-mid 2010s, they had a third line that could check but also provide offense. The Rangers' current trio looks to be taking a major step forward in their development to provide additional support to the top-six, lengthening the lineup. The Blueshirts' third line outplayed the Lightning's opposite group of Hagel-Colton-Perry.
The Shift: We have the Drive in Denver. The Shot in Chicago. The Guarantee in 1994. Now, we may have the Shift.
With the score 2-2 after Ondrej Palat matched Frank Vatrano's marker, the Kid Line contributed to give New York a 3-2 lead. Alexis Lafreniere earned the secondary assist, but the play was made by Kakko Kaapo, who showed stickhandling, patience, creativity and vision behind the net, feeding Chytil, who found open room in the slot to receive the feed and make it 3-2 at 10:09. Then the Shift.
New York had a 52-second stretch in the Lightning zone that spanned a line change, five shots and retrievals and finally, K’Andre Miller’s feed across for a Chytil one-timer that grazed Andrei Vasilevskiy’s shoulder and went in. The fourth line started the shift, cycling the puck and creating chances before they were replaced by the Kid Line.
Cycles down low to high and two great keeps at the line proceeded the tally. Adam Fox had one of those keeps and fed Lafreniere, who dished it to Miller, who found Chytil to the right of the slot for the goal at 15:43 of the second. The Garden was buzzing, which you can hear in the video, spiking when Fox made the keep and then the goal. Just an all-around brilliant sequence from all five players, each of whom are under 25 years of age.
"He’s grown up to be a man,” coach Gerard Gallant said of Chytil. “He’s 22 years old and he feels good about his game. He always has. But now he’s really stepping it up. Every time you watch him go out there and play, he’s more confident and he’s stronger on every puck. He’s just growing up.”
It's been a nice rebound for Chytil, whose height of his frustration came when he was a surprise healthy scratch for two consecutive games in late February, which led to a frank conversation with Gallant.
"I met with him probably after he sat out that one game, and he asked what I needed," the coach recalled. "I think I mentioned the (Mika) Zibanejad-type of hockey player. He's not a Zibanejad-type of hockey player, but he got the message."
What Gallant wanted was for Chytil to emulate Zibanejad by becoming a better two-way player, which meant working harder on defense while using his high-end speed to push the pace offensively. We saw signs after that meeting of this style of play. But the real evidence has come the past two rounds and especially the last few games.
"I was working hard through the whole season," he said. "There were tough moments, so many chances when I couldn’t put it to the net. Maybe my hockey wasn't that bad, but when you’re not putting the puck in the net, you're not helping the team that much. Maybe I started to be a little frustrated, but now it's finally going in. I’m so happy that I can help the team like this."
Lafrenière has been the driving force on the Kid Line, its most consistent performer all postseason with the growth starting as the year progressed. Kakko’s work behind the opposing net, as seen in the last three games, has been revelatory. His all-around game and ability to score still need work, but he’s becoming one of the Rangers’ best players below the hash marks due to his increased strength that he has amassed the last two seasons. Chytil is becoming the sniper and trigger for that trio. .
“It was close to their (the Kid Line) best,” Gallant said. “They got inside. They scored some nice goals. They’re a confident bunch of kids right now and we need that to continue.”
2)
Offense - besides the Kid Line, several other sources of scoring last night. From the NHL.com game recap, "MSG just erupted just 1:11 into Game 1, as Mika Zibanejad beat Nikita Kucherov to a loose puck, drew the defense and found Chris Kreider wide open in the slot. The Rangers' leading goal-scorer in these playoffs finished with a perfectly placed shot in between the post and Andrei Vasilevskiy's right arm to quickly give the Rangers a 1-0 lead."
The goal showed the speed of Zib, then his creativity to fake the shot and feed Kreider. CK20 beat Vas short-side and the Garden exploded. We spoke about getting an early-lead, which they did, but Tampa rallied and tied the game on a blast by Steven Stamkos.
Tied at 1 after one, Vatrano scored for the Rangers, beating Vasilveskiy high. Vasi robbed Ryan Strome with a double-pad stack high that left all of us wondering how the puck didn't go in, before Palat tied it for the Lightning. Then the Kids took over.
Up 4-2 after two, another early goal, this one coming off a 2-on-1 between Andrew Copp and Artemi Panarin, with Panarin beating Vasilevskiy with a one-timer to the short-side for his first even-strength goal since May 7 . Great to see Panarin shoot and he had jump in his step and life in his skates last night. Zib capped the scoring on the power-play. He missed high three times before hitting the mark with a howitzer on his fourth chance.
New York has now scored 17 goals in their last three games after mustering nine in their previous five. Let that number sink in. The four goals after two exceeded what Tampa allowed while sweeping Florida.
3)
Defense - in all honesty, I didn't think they played well. First, the blind passes in their own zone. Very dangerous and created too many easy chances. Second, gaping holes in the slot. Nikita Kucherov had a half-dozen chancee and the team was fortunate he mishandled a few, possibly due to the rust. Third, Tampa had too many odd-man or close to odd-man rushes. In addition, the Lightning were getting the puck from blue line to center red line or near opposite blueline aiming for the deflection wide to spring a winger. Several times it worked or was close to working. New York needs to tighten up there and not allow the forwards to gettinga. running start wide to beat the defense.
Even when up 5- and 6-2, I thought the team took way too many chances. They needed and need to be more disciplined, having a third man back to limit the counter attack. Tampa is a dangerous team and New York has to be more cognizant of it. We saw it on the two goals they had plus the ability to cycle and pin New York deep. With better finishers than Carolina, the Rangers must be cognizant of that ability.
4)
Igor was Igor, He made a handful of brilliant saves, including a few from the slot and in front of the net. The game was not as easy as the score might indicate and that's largely due to Igor and the Kid Line. The crowd was into it, chanting Igor's better in the third period. Fortunately, he wasn't injured when he was hit by Stamkos in the third.
5)
Remain humble and focused - it's one game. Remember back to how this blog felt the first two rounds after a loss. How it felt like the end of the world. Tampa, off nine days, yes, I know, you are tired of hearing it, but the rust was a component, now are engaged again. The absence of Brayden Point is a factor, which I am sure we will hear more of from the media etc. as the series wears on. I expect a much closer game Friday, as noted above, the Rangers have to be better structurally on defense. The response by Zib below was perfect and on point. It's one game, be happy with win and focus on Friday.
"It's nice for the confidence to score some goals, but we've been at the other end of it," Zibanejad said. "[The series] is still just 1-0. It's a new game on Friday. Just got to get back to playing our game and try to take some positives from this game. … We know it's far from over. It's just one game so we've just got to keep going."
(As a reminder, I am out of pocket from Friday to Monday night. Game 1 recap blog is this one, up Thursday and Game 2 preview blog to be posted Friday before the Sabbath begins. I will be back again Monday night or Tuesday am after Game 3 and prior to Game 4)
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