New York Rangers follow blueprint in taking opener from Tampa Bay Lightning
The New York Rangers had better scoring opportunities than Tampa Bay in the first period of Saturday's game, yet they emerged from the first 20 minutes scoreless. New York had the better of play through two periods, but Ondrej Palat's power play goal tied the game at 1-1 early in the third period.
Time to panic? Not on your life.
"Sort of used to that," coach Alain Vigneault quipped of his team's inability to score and its penchant for playing close games. "We kept playing and kept plugging away."
And the Rangers kept winning despite an offense that is averaging two goals per game, which ranks 15th of 16 playoff teams.
Dominic Moore scored the game-winner at 17:35 of the third period when Kevin Hayes' centering pass bounced off his knee and past Tampa goalie Ben Bishop, lifting the Rangers to a familiar 2-1 win over the Lightning in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference final series at Madison Square Garden in New York.
It also helps that Lundqvist is in goal, bleeding confidence into the rest of the team with his poised play. He made 23 saves to improve his postseason save percentage to .945 and lower his goals against average to 1.56, both tops among goalies who have made at least five playoff starts.
Turning Point: Killing momentum. After tying the game early in the third period on Palat's one-timer from the right circle, Tampa had two more power plays midway and late in the third. The Lightning couldn't generate any offense against the Rangers' penalty-killing unit. Thirty seconds after Dominic Moore's tripping penalty expired, he scored the game-winning goal.
Three stars
1. Henrik Lundqvist, G, New York. Lundqvist made 23 saves, surrendering only Palat's perfectly placed one-timer in what was a typically poised and confident performance.
2. Ben Bishop, G, Tampa Bay. Bishop made 28 saves but faced more quality scoring opportunities than Lundqvist. He had little chance on either goal. Kreider took Bishop's stick with him before setting up Derek Stepan's goal. New York's game-winning tally bounced off Moore.
3. Derick Brassard, C, New York. Brassard was a catalyst like he has been throughout the postseason. He had a game-high six shots, a game-high tying five hits, a game-high three takeaways and an assist on the game-winning goal.
GIF: Lundqvist save pic.twitter.com/0uC8zylgsF
— Stephanie Vail (@myregularface) May 16, 2015
RECAP
New York Rangers 2, Tampa Bay Lightning 1.
Series: New York leads, 1-0.
Key stat: The Rangers are 41-0-1 this season when leading after two periods.
Best visual: No kicking motion. The game-winning goal came when Rangers forward Kevin Hayes whipped the puck across the front of the net and it banked off Dominic Moore's right knee. Was there a kicking motion? The overhead view clearly shows there was not and Toronto didn't take any time to review it because the play was obviously a good goal.
Best quote: "There were big spurts in the game where we had them hemmed in. I don't think we shot the puck enough. I don't think we attempted enough shots. What got us through the Montreal series is not what we did tonight in some parts of the game. What got Montreal back in the series was what we did for big parts of the game tonight. I've got no answer why, in Game 1 of a Conference Final, that happened." -- Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper on his team's 24-shot effort
What we learned: We didn't think the Rangers would be able to win 2-1 games against the NHL's best regular-season offense. For one game, they proved us wrong. New York held Tampa to 24 shots and eked out another close affair despite the continued absence of its offense. New York out-chanced Tampa. We can't help wondering if the young Lightning had a little stage fright at Madison Square Garden in the conference finals. We expect a better response in Game 2.
Next game: Game 2, Monday, 8 p.m. ET at Madison Square Garden
Final thought: While the Rangers and Lightning kicked off the conference finals with a low-scoring affair, we don't expect the same from the high-powered offenses in the Western Conference Final. Anaheim's size and center depth will be a challenge for Chicago's depleted blue line corps. Chicago's experience, forward depth and cast of stars will be a challenge for the Ducks. The pace of the series should be a challenge for the broadcast crews calling the games.
Follow Craig Morgan on Twitter
