The New York Rangers and Washington Capitals are set to meet yet again in the playoffs. It feels like another mundane Rangers/Caps series, but it’s the first time they’ve met in the postseason in 9 years. Things have changed, including tactics on the ice, as the Rangers line matchups will take center stage for the Blueshirts in the first round.

We’ve been focusing a lot on matchups this season, and for good reason. After two years of being promised roles under The Coach Who Shall Not Be Named, Peter Laviolette finally delivered. Rangers line matchups have been part of the overall strategy this season and has been a major contributor to the Rangers defensive success this season.

Rangers line matchups – general strategy

The Rangers line matchups have been somewhat clear most of the season, even if the personnel rotated and the roles changed slightly after the trade deadline. The Blueshirts started the season with three scoring lines and a shutdown line. Naturally, it was the Mika Zibanejad, Filip Chytil (2L), and Vincent Trocheck (3L) lines that were the scoring lines. Barclay Goodrow/Nick Bonino were supposed to center the shutdown line.

Once Chytil went down for the season, Zibanejad’s line took over the shutdown role to solid defensive success, but it impacted their 5v5 production. Bonino was moved up to 3C, was not a good fit, and was eventually released. Goodrow was tried at 3C for a while, but it wasn’t until Jonny Brodzinski was moved to that role did the line become stable.

Even with Brodzinski, the Rangers line matchups weren’t clean. Zibanejad was still the shutdown center, and Trocheck moved up to center one of the best Rangers scoring lines since the GAG line. But the bottom six had no role and, while the Rangers were winning, it was clear something needed to change.

When Alex Wennberg was acquired, he was immediately slotted as the 3C and shutdown center. That freed up Zibanejad to get more favorable matchups while still serving as the “backup” shutdown center. The fourth line may not have a defined role such as “scoring” or “shutdown,” and is more of an energy line right now.

Expected matchups – without Chytil

The Rangers line matchups will probably have two different versions – one with Filip Chytil and one without. While it’s expected he will return, there is still that possibility that he won’t return. Covering the latter scenario first, it’s fairly straight forward.

The Rangers line matchups are best described based on the Washington Capitals’ expected lines. Their top scoring line is the Alex Ovechkin line, and it’s fair to expect the Cuylle-Wennberg-Kakko line to get most of these assignments. The Kreider-Zibanejad-Roslovic line will likely serve as a backup against Ovechkin in this scenario.

The Dylan Strome line (with Tom Wilson) is the Caps’ secondary scoring line, and it’s safe to assume the Zibanejad line will probably see Strome a lot, at least at home. There’s a strong argument to get the Panarin line out there, but Strome and Wilson are a solid duo on the second line that requires stronger defensive presence.

That leaves the Panarin line to get most of the offensive zone starts while hopefully feasting on the Max Pacioretty-Hendrix Lapierre-Sonny Milano line. Only Milano has strong defensive impacts, and both Lapierre and Pacioretty are pretty rough in their own end.

The fourth line, as an energy line, may get sprinkled in throughout the lineup. If he plays, expect Matt Rempe to get some shifts against Tom Wilson. But it’s worth noting the Rangers line matchups don’t all of a sudden disappear with the fourth line. They can defend and chip in here and there offensively.

All of these are goals for Peter Laviolette’s strategy in Rangers line matchups, but it won’t be 100% of the time. Icings, special teams, zone starts, general shift timing, and the Caps’ matchup strategies all play a role in how these deployments are managed.

What about with Chytil?

Assuming Chytil returns, the Rangers line matchups change somewhat. On the podcast, I mentioned that Chytil is likely best served as the 3C with Cuylle and Kakko. It breaks up the current shutdown line, but it adds a tertiary scoring line that the Rangers do not currently have.

For the sake of this post, we are sticking with Chytil as the 3C. There are rumblings he may go to 1RW and shift Jack Rosolovic down–or out– in the lineup. In that scenario, the Rangers line matchups don’t change at all, as the shutdown line remains intact.

With Chytil as the 3C, the fourth line looks much different with Wennberg centering Jimmy Vesey and Barclay Goodrow. That becomes the shutdown line and stretches the Rangers center depth far more than putting Chytil elsewhere in the lineup.

The top-six remains unchanged, thus their matchups likely remain unchanged as well. Zibanejad would still serve as the backup shutdown line, getting the Ovechkin line when the newly formed Vesey-Wennberg-Goodrow line can’t get out there against him. There’s a decent argument that Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko can also shut down the Ovechkin line, but I can’t imagine Laviolette wanting that matchup.

Instead, it’s far more likely Laviolette would get this line out there against either the Strome line or the Pacioretty line, with Panarin’s line getting the other.

Three scoring lines and a shutdown line is more than enough to overwhelm the Caps.

What about the defense?

It goes against conventional wisdom to not have a shutdown defense pair, but that’s how the Rangers line matchups are looking right now. The K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba pair was given one period against Sidney Crosby with hilariously bad results. The forward line matched with them was changed from Panarin to Zibanejad, and the results were far better.

There were two lessons from this experiment: First was the Miller-Trouba pairing could not function as a shutdown pair. The second was the forwards matter far more in the Rangers line matchups than the defense. They will certainly have a preferred pair out there in high leverage defensive matchups, like holding one goal leads late, but it’s unknown which pair that will be.

Instead, I can see the defense getting more of a zone-start deployment instead of a specific matchup deployment. Miller-Schneider got the majority of the defensive zone starts against the Islanders, but Lindgren-Fox got the defensive zone starts against the Senators. The only conclusion to draw is that Gustafsson-Trouba likely won’t serve as a high leverage shutdown pair.

All of these Rangers line matchups, both up front and on defense, are fluid and will be results based. Sometimes the paper matchups don’t play out as planned and need adjusting. That’s where Laviolette has changed the culture. He moves guys around to make the team better, instead of being stubborn and forcing guys into roles that don’t work.

The Rangers have a solid coaching advantage this postseason.

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