NY Rangers Goal Breakdown: Special teams fall flat in Game 1 loss to Carolina

Hockey returned yesterday with the Rangers and Hurricanes playing a special teams bonanza. It felt like the first two periods were almost entirely played on special teams, with very little 5v5 play. That unfortunately drove the narrative of this game, as the Rangers laid an egg with the man advantage. You can’t win if you go 0-for-7 on the powerplay. It just doesn’t happen.

Henrik Lundqvist, who made a last minute start for Igor Shesterkin, was great in this game. He’s really the reason why the game was close through the first two periods. None of the three goals against were weak goals, and really none were stoppable.

It’s a five game series, so the Rangers need to get their acts together on Monday if they want to have any hope of surviving. Going down 2-0 would be killer.

Canes 1, Rangers 0 – Missed Assignments

Jacob Trouba was in the corner using excessive force when the puck wasn’t near him. Brendan Smith had to cover the man in front, leaving the back door open for Jaccob Slavin. Jesper Fast, who went to the locker room after this shift, missed the back door cutter. Hank stood no chance.

Canes 2, Rangers 0 – A tale of special teams

Carolina converted on their powerplay on this one. Sebastian Aho found the seam in the slot with Justin Williams already drawing attention. That’s how they drew it up. Very little Hank could have done on that.

Canes 2, Rangers 1 – Pavel Buchnevich is good

Pavel Buchnevich started this whole thing with driving the zone and getting a good chance that was broken up. The Rangers kept up the pressure, with Buchnevich drawing attention in front of the net. That left Mika Zibanejad partially open to deflect Ryan Lindgren’s shot from the point over Mrazek.

Canes 3, Rangers 1 – Staal own goal

This just isn’t a good play.

Rangers 3, Canes 2 – Staal makes it interesting

This was a shorthanded goal that no one expected. David Quinn put out his big guns to get a goal, and that they did. Staal ripped it from the point and it got by Mrazek.

Shot Heatmap – Carolina owned the middle of the ice

Carolina got the overwhelming majority of their shots from the middle of the ice. It wasn’t all red, which is good. The Rangers weren’t that bad defensively in this game, but they did give up some good chances. They also lacked sustained offense

Skater Results – Lots of dull and bad

This really shouldn’t surprise anyone, since the game itself was sloppy. Carolina controlled most of the even strength game, all 3 minutes of it. It’s so tough to gauge a team on their first real game back in 5 months, but it’s only a 5 game series. They don’t have much time to get their legs back under them.

The Rangers lost this one because they laid an egg on the powerplay. Logically speaking, that won’t happen again, but it’s a short series and it’s the Rangers. If they don’t score, they can’t win. It’s one of the keys to winning in hockey, putting the puck in the net.