I’m not a huge believer in the “you have to lose before winning” debate. If that was the case, the Leafs would have a Stanley Cup by now. However, I do believe this game one loss will end up being a good, tough lesson for this young Rangers team. After generating an early lead, playing strong defensive hockey for the majority of two periods, all while generating offense, the Rangers got caught in the storm in the third period and as a result, lost game one in overtime. While this one certainly stings, there were an abundance of positives to take away from this game and while Carolina is a different team than Pittsburgh, there’s no reason to hit the panic button. Lord knows by now this team can never be counted out and loves a comeback.
Puck dropped on game one of the Eastern Conference semifinals and the New York Rangers went through that typical feeling out process with the Carolina Hurricanes for the first couple minutes of the period. It’s something that always gets talked about at the beginning of a new series but it really is a huge factor. Especially when a series goes seven games, you get very used to playing the same team and know what you’re up against night in and night out. That first game of a new round is always going to have a first day of school kind of vibe and last night was no exception. However, once the teams got acquainted, the Rangers started generating some chances and before you know it, we’re playing pretty well in control of the game.
About a minute and a half in, the officials hand went up as Nino Neiderreiter got his stick caught up high on Adam Fox, giving the Rangers a great opportunity to get their power play going early in the series. Sure enough, just as the teams were getting situated, Ryan Strome got tangled up with Jaccob Slavin and the Rangers power play quickly turned into a 4-on-4. Say whatever you want about the call but Ryan Strome can not be taking that penalty. Any offensive zone penalty is always going to be a bad one but the fact that it happened during a man advantage makes it even worse. Carolina would have a short power play following the 4-on-4 but the score remained locked at a pair off goose eggs as play would continue one.
Just a few minutes after the penalties expired, the kid line would go to work as Alexis Lafreniere came in on a great zone entry and fed Filip Chytil a perfect pass that he was able to put home. 1-0 Rangers. You can’t say enough about this kid line. They have been so good throughout the playoffs and the fact that they were able to get right into it out the gate of round two is so crucial. From that moment on, it was all Rangers and frankly, had Antti Raanta not been on his game, it probably could’ve been a 4-0 game by the time the first period was over. Raanta stood on his head throughout game one, robbing the Rangers of so many chances, especially keeping Filip Chytil from having a two goal night on that one sprawling save at the back door.
After a great start, the Rangers carried the momentum into the second period and kept the chances coming. The penalties to each side in the first couple minutes would stand as the only penalties of the game as the officials did a great job of letting both teams play. It wasn’t necessarily the most physical outing, however it did have it’s moments. One of which came on a huge opportunity for Carolina later in the game when an incredible back checking effort from K’Andre Miller resulted in him laying out a huge hit to prevent a breakaway. The more Miller plays in this postseason, the more I believe he could’ve been in the Norris Trophy conversation had the season been reversed. He has such a bright future ahead of him and if he continues to play like this and only get better, he will undoubtedly be in that conversation for real, at least one season.
Shots were 23-14 after two periods and for a brief moment in time, it actually felt like the Rangers were in a really good place. If they could just get one more goal to give their lead some insurance, they might actually be able to pull this off. Sure enough, the Hurricanes weren’t going down without a fight and Rod Brind ‘Amour showed us why he’s among the top coaches in the league. Late in the second, he decided to switch Andrei Svechnikov for Teuvo Teravainen on the top line and the Hurricanes blended top six looked tremendous. I was afraid in the moment that RBA’s decision to jumble up the lines would be “that moment” that changes the pace of the game and looking back, it certainly was.
Carolina “woke up” and came out with fire and urgency in the third period. The Rangers couldn’t break the puck out let alone get a shot on goal. It took them over ten minutes to get a puck on net and the longer the period went on, the more it seemed like Carolina was hanging around. In the final five minutes of the game, it only amplified and after hitting crossbars, posts, getting all the chances in the world. Sebastian Aho finished on the rebound of his own breakaway to tie the game up at one. Absolutely brutal. The Rangers left Igor Shesterkin out to dry as there’s no way you should expect your goalie to have to make a rebound save after stopping a breakaway, especially on the opposing team's top player. With three and a half minutes to go, momentum was completely in Carolina’s hands and we would be heading to overtime.
Overtime in playoff hockey. Goals are never going to be pretty and like Steve Valiquette says, it either comes quick or takes a loooooooong time. Carolina brought it quick as Ian Cole let a shot go from the point that deflected off of Ryan Lindgren’s stick, past Shesterkin to give the Canes the early lead on the series. Shake it off, that’s all you can do. The Rangers played great for forty minutes but let the third period get away from them and caught a bad break in overtime. No sense in hanging your head on it, especially when you have to get right back on the horse on Friday.
All in all, there isn’t much the Rangers need to fixate on. Antti Raanta had an incredible night and frankly, it’s hard to be mad at him as he’s still very appreciated by Rangers fans. The team needs to keep up the strong defensive play and learn to put games away when they have the opportunities. Kaapo Kakko might want to shoot a couple hundred pucks at an empty net from the angle he missed the net on but at the end of the day, that wasn’t the make or break moment of the game. For the most part, everyone played pretty well individually however, Ryan Strome needs to be better for this group. Too many times he looked like he was caught off guard when the puck got to him. Loosen up on the stick, play with purpose, it’s not a great look for him when the twenty year olds are more reliable out there. Not to mention, he’s playing for a contract here. His future is very much up in the air and the way he’s played in these playoffs he’s not really doing himself many favors.
The Rangers are back at it in Raleigh on Friday Night as they will look to even up the series before heading back home to the Garden. This team is no stranger to comebacks and despite losing the game, you have to think they feel a little more confident in their ability to skate with this team as they dominated through two periods. Hopefully this will be a productive loss and the team will come out flying in game two as they will need to get more pucks on net as well as more traffic in order to beat Antti Raanta.
Chris Feldman
Comments