Goal Breakdown: Late Dominic Moore goal gives Rangers 1-0 series lead

Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals went to the Rangers, and that game was more eventful than about 90% of the previous 12 playoff games played by the Rangers this year. This game was pretty fast paced, with the Rangers and Lightning exchanging rushes and getting shot attempts. Both Ben Bishop and Henrik Lundqvist stood tall, especially Bishop –who is really tall anyway– who made 28 saves. Lundqvist made 23 saves.

The Rangers really controlled play against the Lightning yesterday, putting up a 60% puck possession advantage throughout the contest. They also controlled the scoring chance battle, really getting back to their rush game and getting those chances (more on that below). The Lightning did not follow the mold of the Caps and Penguins before them, and did not clog the neutral zone. The Rangers took advantage to get those attempts. That said, both Ranger goals were of the “greasy, dirty, gritty” variety. Gotta have both.

On to the goals:

Rangers 1, Lightning 0

Courtesy of www.newyorkrangersgifs.com

Jason Garrison and Andrej Sustr tie up Chris Kreider and Jesper Fast in front on the initial Ryan McDonagh shot. The shot didn’t get through and ricocheted to the high slot as Bishop lost his stick. Kreider got the puck as Stepan cut to the net from the boards. Valtteri Filppula was the higher man on this play, thus he went to Kreider, while Sustr didn’t recognize Stepan cutting to the slot, and went to Fast (already covered by Garrison). This left Stepan open after Kreider’s shot didn’t get through to collect the loose puck and put it over Bishop.

Lightning 1, Rangers 1

Courtesy of www.newyorkrangersgifs.com

This is what happens when you give the Lightning a bunch of powerplays. They moved the puck so well here, and Palat finished a nice passing play with a one-timer over Lundqvist’s glove. Passing like that creates open ice, and Palat found some, moving from the boards to the top of the circle, keeping his stick on the ice as an easy target for Tyler Johnson. I don’t believe anyone was really out of position here for the Rangers, just some nice passing.

Rangers 2, Lightning 1

Courtesy of www.newyorkrangersgifs.com

Not much Tampa Bay can do on this one. They played their assignments correctly, but the puck went off Moore’s leg. Hockey happens, and the puck bounced the Rangers’ way yesterday.

USAT/Fenwick Chart

Courtesy of war-on-ice

As mentioned above, and as most people noticed while watching the game, the Rangers really controlled the pace of play throughout. They used an unclogged neutral zone to gain entry on the rush, then pinned the Lightning deep. This is a recipe for success against the Lightning.

Scoring Chances

Courtesy of war-on-ice

The Rangers didn’t dominate the scoring chances the way they dominated overall puck possession, but they still had the advantage here. What I find to be interesting is that the Rangers and Lightning had such a low percentage of scoring chances from their shot attempts. These are two highly skilled teams that dealt with great defense instead. The Rangers forced the Lightning to play their game, and it worked.

Individual SAT/Corsi

Courtesy of war-on-ice

You have to hand it to all six defensemen for the Rangers. The Lightning’s top-six were kept off the scoreboard at even strength and all finished in the negatives for possession, and all six defensemen had at least one shift against both lines. It was weird to see really. Alain Vigneault didn’t match up like he normal does. But hey, if all six Rangers defensemen can shut down a skilled offense like that, then it bodes well.

If you want to go more in-depth, looking at zone entries, @MannyElk was spewing some great tidbits about zone entires this game.

Shot Locations

Courtesy of war-on-ice

This stays consistent with what I mentioned above. The Rangers had more attempts and more scoring chances from high danger areas.

Shift Chart

Courtesy of war-on-ice

This was the first shift chart that I found to be weird. AV didn’t really match up against any particular line or player on the Bolts. He just rolled his guys normally depending on zone. I guess, with the Bolts that deep, you can’t really match up, but it’s interesting to see how AV decided to deploy his guys.

The Rangers played their single best game of the playoffs yesterday. If the Rangers continue playing like that –as long as Lundqvist continues playing out of his mind– then the Bolts are going to have some serious issues.