The New York Rangers took a 2-0 series lead on the Washington Capitals last night with a thrilling 4-3 win. The Caps put up a better showing, controlling most of the play in the second and third periods at 5v5. It was certainly noticeable that both the Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome lines spent more time in the offensive zone, likely due to a shift in the Rangers Game 2 line matchups.

If you recall from Game 1, it was the Alex Wennberg and Mika Zibanejad lines that did the heavy lifting defensively. Both lines smothered the Ovechkin and Strome lines, respectively. While Zibanejad’s matchups didn’t change, Wennberg was removed from the Ovechkin assignment. There was a method to the madness.

Shift chart from naturalstattrick.com

The shift chart is a little tough to read, so I recommend going directly there and hovering over a specific shift to make it a tad easier to see the Rangers Game 2 line matchups. The quick and dirty summary with a reminder that this is not a catch-all:

  • The Panarin line got the Ovechkin line, a shift from the Wennberg line in Game 1.
  • The Zibanejad line got the Strome line, consistent with Game 1. Also got some shifts against Lapierre.
  • The Wennberg line split the Strome/Lapierre lines with Zibanejad.
  • The Goodrow line got everyone.
  • Fox/Lindgren got a bunch of defensive zone starts, mostly against Ovechkin or Strome.
  • Miller/Schneider also got mostly Ovechkin or Strome.
  • Gustafsson/Trouba got mostly 3L/4L.
  • It was Trouba/Lindgren out there to finish the game.

The big shift was with the Artemi Panarin line getting the Alex Ovechkin line, a big shift from the Game 1 mentality of shutting Ovechkin down. Ovechkin had far more looks in Game 2, even if he didn’t get on the score sheet.

Why change the Rangers Game 2 line matchups?

The Rangers put on a defensive clinic in Game 1, but the 5v5 offense was certainly lacking early on. The fourth line scored twice, with Panarin and Chris Kreider scoring as well. While the Caps were shut down, Peter Laviolette clearly wanted more consistent offense from his group.

By changing up the Rangers Game 2 line matchups, Laviolette attempted to take advantage of the Ovechkin line’s terrible defensive ability. Unfortunately it simply didn’t work as planned, with the Ovechkin line spending far more time in the offensive zone. It is worth noting that Panarin and Vincent Trocheck were a -1 (2-1) in high-danger chance differential. Alexis Lafreniere was even (1-1).

This was the biggest Rangers Game 2 line matchups change. Laviolette tried to get one of the top two defense pairs out there against Ovechkin to help balance out the defense, but it didn’t work as planned. The Rangers still won, of course, but it wasn’t as pretty as Game 1.

Other matchups were just fine

While the Rangers Game 2 matchups did change, the rest played out just fine. With Zibanejad and Wennberg splitting duties against the Dylan Strome line, they were held to zero high danger chances. That worked quite well.

In fact, it was the Caps’ third line of Max Pacioretty, Hendix Lapierre, and Sonny Milano that generated the most high danger chances at 5v5. They didn’t get a specific matchup, seeing most of their time against all three of the Zibanejad, Wennberg, and Barclay Goodrow lines. Without a shift by shift analysis, it’s tough to see which Rangers line was getting dominated.

Still, if most of the dangerous chances are coming from the third line, that’s a win.

Adjustments for Game 3?

While it’s expected the Rangers Game 2 line matchups will again be shuffled for Game 3, there’s a big wrinkle at play. The games in Washington mean the Capitals have last change, not the Rangers. This is where we will see how Spencer Carbery prefers to matchup his lines.

Given how well the Ovechkin line played against Panarin, at least in terms of offensive zone time, I think it’s safe to say that matchup will be front and center. We should also expect the Caps to try to get Dylan Strome away from Mika Zibanejad, possibly against the Rangers’ fourth line.

Laviolette may try to counter by attempting to go back to the Game 1 matchups, if he can. Most line changes are on the fly, so he will have some ability to control matchups. It will be faceoffs where he can’t control the matchup as much.

We may also see a lineup change with the series heading to DC. Notably, Matt Rempe had a rough game for the Rangers, out there for 5 high danger chances against and zero high danger chances for. That line isn’t going to generate many high danger chances, but five against in just 7:34 TOI isn’t a good showing for Rempe. Jonny Brodzinski bolsters the defensive reliability at the expense of some size and energy.

If there’s one thing we know, it’s that Peter Laviolette knows all this and will push the right buttons, as he has all season.

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