|
Rangers complete sweep of Capitals, face Hurricanes in next round |
|
|
|
|
|
The Rangers completed their first round sweep of the Capitals with a 3-1 win Sunday. New York was not at their best in this game - or you can argue in all four contests - but trailed just 3:21 in the series and never seemed to be in trouble at any point in the round. The road gets tougher, as the Blueshirts will meet the Hurricanes in the next round following Carolina’s 5-3 Game 5 win over the Islanders last night.
Lots of positives in the series win over the Washington. First and foremost, special teams. The Rangers went 6-for-16 on the man-advantage and stoned 15-of-17 Capitals’ power plays. Washington entered the series with the best PP since the All-Star Game with a 28.9% success rate. New York’s performance on both sides of the equation was a major reason for the series win. New York created a myriad of chances on their own power plays while stoning Washington throughout the series, save for the two goals surrendered in Game 2. Carolina has a solid power play but their PK struggled against the Islanders last series.
Igor Shesterkin was at the top of his game. He was somewhat critical of his own play, but after allowing just seven goals in four games while posting a .931 save percentage, hard to find any level of fault there. Washington is far from the offensive threat Carolina is, but Igor made several spectacular saves during the series to either keep New York in the lead or tied to enable a victory in each contest. While Charlie Lindgren was solid at times, Frederik Andersen played a large part in defeating the Islanders.
Production down the middle - coming into the Washington series, one point of emphasis or question was would Mika Zibanejad come to the fore? Zib did so and more, posting a goal and six assists in the series win. The Robin to his Batman, Vincent Trocheck, was as good, and in some instances, better. Trocheck potted three goals and as many assists while posting a 71.2 face off win percentage, continuing his season long dominance between the dots. If that duo can be as or close to as effective in this round, New York should have an excellent chance of advancing.
Blue line - the movement of K’Andre Miller to play with Braden Schneider and Jacob Trouba with Erik Gustafsson has solidified both pairs. The Miller-Schneider duo has morphed into a top pair combination with both players excelling with the additional responsibilities alongside one another. In addition, moving Trouba down has taken some of the burden off him and enabled better match ups, also benefitting Gus. Trouba blocked 21 shots in round 1 and will be a key this round against Carolina.
On the flip side, some of the post series chatter was how the Rangers failed to dominate 5x5 against Washington. I will say the argument has some merit, though kind of hard to criticize a team after trailing for just 3:21 in a four game series. My impression is that the Rangers viewed the Capitals as a threat but not the same kind of offensive threat as the Canes or another team would pose. Not that New York played rope-a-dope or played down to Washington but the same level of urgency to an extent might have been psychologically missing. That won’t be the case this round and/or if they move forward.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»
