In an effort to get more in-depth analysis for all you guys, we are going to continue breaking down in fine detail how each goal is scored in this series. We already covered game one here.

I know we have already posted a recap for the entire game, but we wanted to bring focus to the little breakdowns that cause each and every goal.

Rangers take 1-0

The Rangers had some good pressure going on their power play in the first period. Girardi was able to set up Stralman a few times from the point and each time he was able to get a good shot on net. Finally after a few good saves, Stralman launched one from the point and beat Anderson through his five-hole. The review showed that the shot actually deflected off of Chris Phillips stick, though the announce team said it was off of Colin Greening.

Senators tie it at 1-1

In the second, Erik Karlsson scored on an unfortunate bounce off of Michael Del Zotto’s skate. There was nothing wrong with the play itself as Staal successfully forced Erik wide. MDZ was covering the slot, as he is supposed to be and Hank was hugging the strong-side post. So, positionally speaking everything was fine. Just a bad bounce.

Rangers grab a 2-1 lead

This was actually a great play from start to finish. Brandon Prust put a hit on Winchester in the neutral zone, which helped to take a little off the pass towards Smith. MDZ read the play perfectly and stepped up for the takeaway. MDZ fed a streaking Fedotenko who dropped the puck to Boyle. Anderson appeared to drop to his knees a little early and Boyle capitalized.

Senators tie it 2-2

This goal was a perfect example of how forwards missing backchecking assignments turn into goals. Hagelin got caught in no-mans-land on the Senators break out. Gabby stopped skating in the neutral zone and Richards fell over a Senator, which left MDZ and Staal with a 3 on 2 to deal with. As a result Foligno was uncovered in the slot. Terrible goal.

I should also mention that the Rangers were running a 1-2-2 prior to the goal because Boyle was subbing out for Richards. I know there was some debate on why the Rangers weren’t aggressively forechecking on that play, but you don’t do that coming off a change.

Senators win it in OT 3-2

What can you say about this cluster f-? Chris Neil toppled over Hank in his crease a few seconds prior to the goal. Neil was able to get out of the way and Hank was able to reset, so technically there’s no interference on the goal, but you have to wonder if that took some juice out of him. Anyway, Hank went down to make the save, but the puck unfortunately never reached him. McDonagh blocked the shot and went down and Neil was able to put home the rebound. I think if McDonagh could do that play over, he wouldn’t have tried blocking that shot in the way that he did, but I’m kinda nitpicking here.

So that’s how the goals were scored in a nutshell, a bit flukey. Hopefully the Rangers will make their adjustments and be ready to at least split these road games.

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