Sunday, the New York Rangers struck first with a three-goal, second-period barrage in a little more than two minutes to take control and open the playoffs impressively while ignoring most attempts by the Washington Capitals to physically engage them.
The Rangers did just about everything right in Game 1 and will attempt to duplicate the effort Tuesday night when they host the Capitals in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.
New York seeks a 2-0 series lead for the second straight season before heading to Washington Friday for Game 3.
Last season, the Rangers decisively won two road games before dropping the series with the New Jersey Devils in seven, but this time they own home-ice advantage throughout the postseason.
The Rangers began their playoff run of raised expectations with a 4-1 victory, turning a scoreless opening period into a game they completely controlled.
Matt Rempe, who took a charging penalty a little over two minutes into the contest, scored the first of three New York goals in 2:06 to energize the crowd.
“Obviously him scoring sent the fans crazy and then we scored two more goals in the next two minutes, so I think he definitely gets the crowd into the game,” New York’s Jimmy Vesey said.
“The team with home-ice advantage is going to try to feed off the energy in the crowd. I can’t say for certain that’s why we scored three goals, but he definitely gets everyone into the game.”
Artemi Panarin, who scored 49 goals during the regular season, followed Rempe’s goal by scoring 33 seconds later. Vesey then turned a faceoff win by Barclay Goodrow into a three-goal lead.
Chris Kreider also scored while Vesey assisted on Rempe’s goal and Goodrow contributed two assists.
“You’re here to win games, and so it’s obviously good to get the first one,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “Everything ratchets up a little bit more (in the playoffs) and we’re going to need to be ready, but you can only do one at a time. You need to win one at a time, so for that the result was good.”
The Rangers’ strong defensive effort killed off four power plays and blocked 21 shots, including five off the stick of Alex Ovechkin.
After heating up down the stretch to outlast the Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers for the second wild-card spot, the Capitals mustered little offensively other than a deflection goal by Martin Fehervary in the second to cut the deficit to 3-1.
Ovechkin was held without a shot on goal for the fourth time in 148 career playoff games.
“The first period was OK,” Ovechkin said. “The second period, a couple mistakes and they score goals, but we all understand it’s a playoff game. Everybody has to play much better, so forget about this one and move forward.”
The Capitals are focused on getting more shots on goal, especially after entering the postseason with a minus-37 goal differential. Washington was held to 21 shots on goal, missed the net 12 other times and absorbed 33 hits from the Rangers.
“We’ve got to do a way better job offensively,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “It’s no secret we’ve struggled all year, but we’ve got to find ways to create more on the interior.
“We’ve got to skate out of pressure. We’ve got to keep pucks off the yellow. We continually just rim pucks around. We’ve got to do a better job offensively.”
–Field Level Media
