The most frustrating part about last night’s game wasn’t the result, it was the fact that the Rangers couldn’t buy a goal, couldn’t get a bounce, and the one favorable bounce went the Capitals’ way. The Rangers played their best game of the postseason, getting a high number of quality chances, but the bounces didn’t go their way. Pucks hopped over sticks. Shots went just wide. Loose pucks were just out of reach. Loose pucks hit legs instead of sticks. Oy.
Braden Holtby was again solid in net, getting the shutout with 30 saves. The feeling was that the Rangers took a lot of “outside shots” because everything “hit Holtby in the chest.” It’s worth noting that these two items do not correlate. The Rangers had a lot of high quality chances. And getting hit in the chest is the mark of good positioning. Henrik Lundqvist was just as good, making more highlight-reel saves, but it was a shot from below the goal line that snuck past him after a pair of awkward bounces.
Blame for this game, because blame needs to go somewhere apparently, has been on Rick Nash and Keith Yandle. Let’s straighten this out for a second. First, that goal was, in no way, shape, or form, Yandle’s fault. Second, Nash played a phenomenal game. Dude can’t buy a goal, despite great chances. Even though he didn’t score, he did everything else right.
On to the goal:
Caps 1, Rangers 0
Courtesy of www.newyorkrangersgifs.com
This was a bad luck play for Keith Yandle, whom I’m guessing will garner the wrath of the Rangers fans. Beagle got lucky on this goal, as his prime chance was shut down by Lundqvist. But he got to the puck behind the net and banked it off Yandle and Lundqvist for the lead.
The Hits
There were two hits that got everyone up in arms. The first was the Rick Nash hit on Brooks Orpik. Here are two angles of the Nash hit:
Courtesy of www.newyorkrangersgifs.com
Courtesy of www.newyorkrangersgifs.com
And here’s the Tom Wilson hit on James Sheppard:
Courtesy of www.newyorkrangersgifs.com
The Wilson hit is a clear hit from behind. Initial contact on the Nash hit is in the armpit, and the impact appears to turn Orpik into the boards. I’m not trying to be a homer, I’m just looking at initial point of contact. Neither will get a call from the DoPS though. I think they took the rest of the year off.
USAT/Fenwick Chart:
Courtesy of war-on-ice
The Rangers really owned this game from the start. They took more chances, as we see above, and they took better quality chances, as we see below.
Scoring Chances:
Courtesy of war-on-ice
Better quality chances for the Rangers too.
Individual SAT/Corsi:
Courtesy of war-on-ice
Above the middle line is good, and below is bad. The distribution is interesting. Miller, Sheppard, and Glass were all net-negative possession players, but none of them saw ice time with 10 minutes remaining, when the Caps basically went full turtle except for one stint in the Rangers’ zone. Shows that you need context with these charts (something we preach here).
Shot Locations:
Courtesy of war-on-ice
Continued from above, the Rangers got the majority of their chances from high risk areas. Credit the Caps for blocking a lot of those attempts though. Also, credit the Rangers for limiting the Caps to the outside with most chances.
Shift Chart:
Courtesy of war-on-ice
There were no shifts where Barry Trotz was able to get Ovechkin out against both Dan Boyle and Keith Yandle. Some shifts he got one of them, but for the most part Alain Vigneault got two of Girardi/McDonagh/Staal/Klein out there. That’s solid matching up, especially as the away team.
Now the Rangers need a gut check. They need to win three of four to keep their season alive, and they need to do it against a tough team that is playing them very well.
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