Rangers dominate Penguins, even the series

AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

Yesterday’s game was as close to a must win as you can get for the Rangers, and they delivered. They added to their solid puck possession from Game One by tightening up in the defensive zone, shutting down the Penguins at even strength. But per Rangers tradition this year, they allowed a pair of powerplay goals against. Couple that with Jeff Zatkoff returning to human form, and the Rangers all of a sudden looked like a team that can skate and compete with the Penguins.

Make no mistake, it was not a coincidence that Dan Girardi’s “injury” and the improved defensive zone play came at the same time. The Rangers still had issues on the penalty kill –too many cross ice passes– but the even strength play in the DZ was much tighter. Henrik Lundqvist was back to Hank mode, and Zatkoff started to look like the third string goalie that he actually is. This game was a confidence booster for the Rangers, showing they can skate with this club if they limit the DZ mistakes.

As always, you can view the full videos on our video page here. All GIFs are on nyrgifs.com, filtered under the date of the game. On to the goals:

Penguins 1, Rangers 0

Patric Hornqvist made a great play to break up a 2-on-1 against Eric Staal and Dan Boyle. This led to an odd-man rush the other way, with Nick Bonino and Trevor Daley making nice passes to set up Phil Kessel for the empty net. Boyle changed after Hornqvist broke up his play, but he wasn’t getting back in time anyway.

Rangers 1, Penguins 0

This appeared to be a set play off the faceoff, as Derick Brassard won the faceoff to J.T. Miller as Keith yandle crept in from the point. Eric Fehr didn’t pick him up, and Miller got the puck through to Yandle, who put it into the empty net.

Rangers 2, Penguins 1

Rick Nash started this with a good backcheck on Carl Hagelin. The puck went to the corner, where Brady Skjei was able to clear the zone. The puck hopped over Olli Maata’s stick right to Brass, who was ruled onsides and beat Zatkoff on the breakaway.

Rangers 3, Penguins 1

Miller had himself a period. On this goal, it was a 1-on-3, and Miller held possession, faked out his man like he was moving the puck up top, then hit Zucc with the beautiful cross-ice pass for the goal.

Rangers 4, Penguins 1

Brassard’s pressure on Daley forced the turnover to Chris Kreider, who simply put it over Zatkoff’s glove.

Penguins 2, Rangers 4

Yandle took a pretty rough penalty, and the Rangers’ penalty kill allowed a cross-ice pass for the goal. Pretty standard for this team lately. Marc Staal’s drop kick did nothing here.

Shot Attempts

The Rangers really owned the second period before the Penguins really pushed in the third. There was some shell by the Rangers, but it wasn’t as egregious as it has been in the past.

Scoring Chances

The defensive zone play really improved this game. The Penguins, with all that talent, were held to less than 20 quality chances at even strength. That’s impressive.

Individual Corsi

Unsurprisingly, Brass and Miller had stellar possession games, and it showed on the scoreboard too. This is what you want to see from the Rangers, minus the Dan Boyle and Kevin Hayes outliers.

Shot Locations

Not many attempts by the Penguins in front. Just solid overall even strength defense by the Rangers.

Shift Chart

This coaching staff really does not like Dylan McIlrath, and I have no idea why. He barely played in the second period, and didn’t really see the ice until the Rangers had a three goal lead. Kevin Klein took a bunch of his shifts, and McIlrath didn’t play much until Klein took the fighting major. He got the Stu Bickel treatment.

It is not a coincidence that the DZ play tightened up without Girardi, as painful as that sounds. It’s clear –yes, even after one game– that scratching Girardi helps the Rangers more than the Ryan McDonagh injury hurts.