In case you missed it, and if you did, I’m sorry you missed it, the NY Rangers took down the NJ Devils in Game 1 last night by a 5-1 score. It wasn’t a dominating effort, as the Devils certainly had a bunch of opportunities, including multiple powerplays, but it was simply good enough at 5v5 with special teams and Igor Shesterkin doing the rest. It stuck to the formula, which was the key in not just the Rangers Game 1 win, but to how the Rangers will make a run in the playoffs.
1. Stick to the formula
The Rangers Game 1 win highlighted The FormulaTM Rob Luker has been mentioning for quite some time now. Average 5v5 play with a good powerplay and good/great goaltending is enough to keep them in a game. Getting all three makes them nigh impossible to stop. The Rangers were good enough at 5v5, limiting the Devils to 12 high-danger chances, per Natural Stat Trick, to their 10 HD chances. That’s good enough.
Add in the powerplay, penalty kill, and goaltending, and you get a 5-1 win.
2. Igor Igor Igor
It was cute when Devils fans said to get into Igor’s head by chanting his name, because it worked so well in last year’s series against Pittsburgh. Almost like they ignored that the Rangers came back to win the series. Igor was dialed in, making difficult saves look easy. He did everything he needed to do.
If this is the Igor the Rangers get for the next 2-3 months, he can steal a series.
3. Defense matters
The Rangers Game 1 win may have been highlighted by The FormulaTM but it was the team defense that really made it possible. It wasn’t perfect, but the Rangers did their job in limiting rush chances against and overall HD chances against. In particular, allowing just 2 HD chances in the first period was a huge win for the Blueshirts and really set the tone.
The Devils, again, are a very good team and they will get their chances. It’s impossible to limit a team with that kind of firepower to nothing. If the Blueshirts are able to continue to limit rush chances and slot line passes, they will likely come out on top.
The Rangers Game 1 win was, as noted, good enough at even strength. That’s all they need to be. If this is the worst we see the Rangers play at 5v5, then watch out.
4. Timely powerplay goals
The Rangers got 2 powerplay goals last night in 3 chances. They won’t keep hitting at 66%, that’s unrealistic. But the key part in the Rangers Game 1 win was the timeliness of their goals. Chris Kreider’s first goal gave the Rangers a much needed two goal cushion. No lead is safe against the Devils, as they are notorious for late game comebacks. Giving themselves breathing room to allow a mistake to hit the back of the net was key though. It also set the tone for a young Devils team getting behind early.
Kreider’s second goal put the game out of reach for the Devils. Again, timely goals with the man advantage.
Something to watch: The Devils were actively guarding against the cross ice pass to Mika Zibanejad on the powerplay, so the Rangers instead went to an open Kreider in front. Will the Devils adjust to cover Kreider, thus making that lane to Zibanejad more available?
5. Elite penalty kill
Perhaps the biggest mood setter in the Rangers Game 1 win was killing penalties early. Before Vladimir Tarasenko opened the scoring, the Rangers killed a Vincent Trocheck penalty. Before Kreider’s first goal, they killed an Adam Fox penalty. All told, the Rangers killed 4 penalties allowing zero shots on goal.
Naturally, allowing no shots in 8 PK minutes isn’t the norm, and that will change. The Devils won’t be an oh-fer on the powerplay for the series either. But this again set the tone for the Rangers Game 1 win. The Devils came in expecting to have a speed game that killed the Rangers. They did not, and that message was sent very early on.
The Rangers owned special teams, which amounted to 14 of the 60 minutes in the game (roughly). The FormulaTM held true, with the Rangers owning that 23% of the game and simply being good enough in the other 77% of the game. Add in Igor, and the Devils were outmatched in Game 1.
But as they say, there’s a reason why it’s a seven game series.
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