Well, it was fun while it lasted. The Bruins –the better team throughout the series– sent the Rangers home today with a 3-1 win in Game Five. Torey Krug was an absolute killer in this series, and he scored the game tying goal in this game. That’s the season, so here’s the final goal breakdown of the year:
Rangers 1, Bruins 0
Lots of things done right on this shift.
The Rangers scored on the powerplay for the second game in a row.
Ok, now that this has sunk in, the Rangers didn’t really have a strong powerplay shift until this goal. Michael Del Zotto started by fighting off a forechecker and making a one-handed pass to Chris Kreider in the defensive zone. Kreider skated through and dumped the puck in, and more importantly, took a hit on the chase to move the puck to the weak side. Dan Girardi eventually wound up with the puck, and drew Danny Paille to him while flipping a backhanded pass to Mats Zuccarello between the top of the circle and the blue line. At this point, Gregory Campbell cheats down a bit, and Girardi reads this and gets in a position to shoot at the point. His one-timer went through everyone, including a Brian Boyle screen in front, and to the back of the net.
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One game at a time. Kreider with the OT winner.
Chris Kreider, he of much debate this season, gave the Rangers at least two more days of their 2013 season with his overtime winner. This series is a long way from being over, but the Rangers have a long way to go before gaining significant momentum. Henrik Lundqvist kept them alive through overtime with magnificent saves, and then the kid got himself out of the doghouse. Game Five is Saturday at 5:30pm in Boston.
Bruins 1, Rangers 0
After Kris Newbury takes a pretty boneheaded penalty, the Bruins got a bit of a lucky goal with the man advantage. The Bruins gained the zone and Nathan Horton had the puck at the bottom of the off-wing circle. He passed to the middle, but David Krejci was expecting shot, so he jumped out of the way. He left his stick on the ice, and the pass actually hit his stick and went right back to Horton. Hank was in position for the pass, but not the redirection back to Horton. Horton’s shot went through the legs of a sliding Lundqvist. That’s the type of series it’s been for the Rangers.
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(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The Rangers are in one helluva hole right now, down 3-0 to the rolling Bruins after their 2-1 loss in Game 3. The Rangers didn’t really deserve to win this game, but the way it ended was one of the oddest endings to a game I have ever seen. That said, the lucky bounce wasn’t the reason why they lost. The Bruins outplayed the Rangers in every facet of the game for the third straight game of the series. The Rangers now face an elimination game on Thursday night in Game Four. On to the goals:
Rangers 1, Bruins 0
Derek Stepan won an offensive zone face off, and Ryan McDonagh got a shot off that was blocked and sat on Patrice Bergeron’s stick for a clear. The clear was blocked and McDonagh took a soft wrister from the blue line with half a dozen guys in the shooting lane. You can see from the replay that Tuukka Rask was leaning to his glove side to see the shot, and McD’s shot went to his stick side. Somehow the shot actually got through –after a Taylor Pyatt deflection– and just beat Rask. Not much to break down, but Bergeron is a lot better than that clear. No picture on this because it didn’t come out the way I would have liked, and I didn’t think we needed a picture of Rask leaning left to see the shot.
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One of the rare bright spots in game two: the captain
The Rangers lost a tough one to the Bruins in game two. Why was it tough you ask? It was tough because the Rangers were brutal in their own end. If the Bruins had capitalised on half of the odd man rushes or wide open chances they had it could have been worse. That said, the Rangers were much improved offensively. They created chances, generated some turnovers of their own and if Tuukka Rask wasn’t in strong form, this may have been a higher scoring game at both ends. The Rangers need to tighten up at the back end if they want to get on the board Tuesday. On to the goals…
Boston 1 Rangers 0; Torey Krug
The Bruins took the lead just over five minutes in as rookie defenseman Torey Krug looked anything but. Entering the Rangers zone late, the blueliner was completely open and received a cross ice pass from Nathan Horton that opened up the ice for the rookie. Receiving the puck out of stride Krug pushed the puck between his skates in spectacular style before beating Lundqvist five hole as his shot beat the despairing dive – and block attempt – from Girardi.
The goal was an example (one of countless examples in the first) where the Rangers defensive coverage was found wanting (particularly Pyatt). The Bruins had multiple odd man rushes and were able to find wide open shooters several times, resulting in quality looks in front of Lundqvist. Luckily for the Rangers, Krug’s was the only such chance the Bruins capitalised on in the first.
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Well this was a convincing way to end the series. The Rangers made a statement in Game Seven, scoring five goals and shutting out the Caps to complete the comeback from down 3-2 in the series. Henrik Lundqvist was good when he needed to be, but the Rangers made sure he didn’t need to be dominant like he was in Game Six. They won the physical battles, and they finally found chinks in Holtby’s armor en route to the rout. There won’t be pictures for this breakdown, I apologize in advance for that. On to the goals:
Rangers 1, Caps 0
Chris Kreider got a big break on this one. As he was getting on the ice for a line change, he went over to pressure Eric Fehr instead of covering Mike Green, who was his man. Green wound up getting stopped by Hank on the breakaway, and Kreider eventually wound up with the puck gaining the Caps zone. He dropped the puck back to Arron Asham, who ripped it through Braden Holtby. Holtby looked to be a bit screened on the play.
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This game shall forever be known as the Henrik Lundqvist show. Lundqvist stopped all 27 shots thrown at him, including 12 in the third period, en route to a shutout and a 1-0 win for the Rangers. With the win, the Rangers forced Game Seven in Washington in a series that has seen the home team hold serve in each of the first six games. Braden Holtby dueled Hank shot for shot except for a lone Derick Brassard shot found its way through in the second period. Since there was one goal today, we will get to the goal and then some random game thoughts.
Rangers 1, Caps 0
The Rangers had a good shift here, cycling the puck with Brassard, Rick Nash, and Mats Zuccarello, John Moore, and Anton Stralman on the ice. There was one occasion when Moore pinched in to keep the puck in the Caps’ zone. The puck eventually worked its way back to Moore, who fed it to Brassard in the high slot. Brassard wound up for the shot, hesitated (he later admitted he shot because the fans kept chanting “shoot the puck”), then wound up again and ripped a slap shot that deflected off Steve Oleksy and past Holtby. The goal was a credit to the entire Rangers unit on the ice, and to Nash in front, who screened Holtby. No picture for this goal, nothing came out clear. Sorry about that.
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This was a tough one. The Rangers played a very good game again, but came up short in overtime for the second time this series. After giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead early, Brian Boyle undid his goodwill by taking a stupid penalty by slashing Mike Ribiero. Naturally, the Caps scored on the powerplay, and eventually won it in overtime. Henrik Lundqvist stood on his head again, but Braden Holtby was also equal to the task. Both made some great stops to keep the game tied. Now it’s do or die in New York on Mother’s Day. On to the goals:
Rangers 1, Caps 0
One step in the wrong direction, goal.
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Game Four was one of the best games the Rangers have played all year. They came out strong, played a physical game, played good defense, and generated a lot of scoring chances. The game itself was very exciting as well, but the Rangers appeared to trade chances with a Caps team that is much more skilled than them. This is what caused the Rangers to blow their initial two goal lead and almost blow their second two goal lead. They eventually held on in a frantic final three minutes to even the series.
These were two HUGE wins for the Rangers on home ice to even the series. Any loss at home would have all but clinched the series for the Caps. Now, the Rangers head back to Washington with a lot of momentum heading into Game Five.
Rangers 1, Caps 0
Braden Holtby, who is usually good with the puck, handled the puck at the boards and tried to clear the puck up the middle. Taylor Pyatt knocked down the clearing attempt, and it went straight to Carl Hagelin with Holtby out of the net. Hagelin’s shot was blocked, but Brad Richards was able to put it into the open net. There is no picture on this because A) It’s not needed, and B) They were blurry. Sorry about that.
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This was a wildly entertaining game tonight at Madison Square Garden. The Capitals came hard down low and created a lot of pressure on our d-men. Hank had to make some strong saves early and often to keep the boys in the game. For the Rangers, we were strong on the boards and were able to make plays all over the offensive zone in the 2nd half thanks to some very key pinches by our defense.
With four hard fought goals tonight for the Rangers, hopefully this is the spark that gets their 5-on-5 offense back where it needs to be. Although the Rangers were just 1 for 6 on the power play, I thought we looked much better in that regard. John Moore in particular was very decisive on the blueline and he was able to get hard, low shots on net. That’s all you can ask for at this point.
On to the goals…Dave’s got the first half…
Caps 1, Rangers 0
Nothing can be done here. Hockey happens.
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The Rangers couldn’t salvage the split in Washington, and are now heading home to New York down 2-0 in the first round. Mike Green’s overtime winner wasn’t a backbreaker for the series, but the Caps have all of the momentum on top of dominating the Rangers for a second straight game. This game wouldn’t have even gone to overtime if Henrik Lundqvist wasn’t phenomenal. This was the game he could have stolen for them, but the Rangers couldn’t finish.
Caps 1, Rangers 0
After a two-minute shift by Ryan McDonagh, the young defenseman made a very careless mistake and flipped the puck into the stands, an “automatic” delay of game. With the Caps on the powerplay, they set up in their 1-3-1 with Green, Alex Ovechkin, Nick Backstrom, Mike Ribiero, and Marcus Johansson and did what they did at an almost 27% clip during the regular season.
The initial setup.
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