The 1st series of the NHL playoffs are complete and it was the best team in hockey, the Rangers, who swept the Capitals who were the lowest ranked of the 16 teams coming into the postseason. I didn’t think this series was very competitive and the Rangers walked through the Caps. Special teams played a huge part in this quick series and New York was significantly better than Washington with the man up or man down. Heading into the 2nd round, the Rangers will get plenty of rest as their chase for the Stanley Cup continues.
This was one of the worst playoff performances by the Caps and not a good showing by their team. I feel like we’re getting to the point now where it feels that the Caps need a full rebuild. After Ovechkin achieves Gretzky’s record, if he does, I believe that the Caps will restart completely because they have a lot of old players. Since their Cup win in 2018 against Vegas, they haven’t won a playoff series which is not a good look. In this series, their power play was poor and so was their penalty kill. In 17 attempts with the man up, they only scored twice but they also gave up two short handed goals (NHL.com). Power plays should bring momentum but for Washington, it was the opposite. They couldn’t get solid zone time and never had sustained pressure on the power play. They weren’t really threatening and even though the games were close, it didn’t feel that way. The Caps only scored 7 goals over the 4 games, an average of only 1.75 goals a game. If you don’t score goals in the playoffs or against the top teams, it’s hard to win and makes it extremely tough on the defense. Charlie Lindgren, the reason they made the playoffs, was mediocre in this series. He didn’t give up any loose goals but I felt he could’ve made some bigger saves. Bobrovsky propelled the Panthers to victory because he made some world class saves, saves he wasn’t expected to make. Lindgren didn’t really have those moments and while it wasn’t his fault, I felt he could’ve been better. Washington faced a very tough team and their veterans couldn’t take down New York’s young stars.
It was a job well done for Peter Laviolette’s team and now they get to relax until the Isles-Canes series is complete. In this series, I thought they did an incredible job eliminating Ovechkin from the game. As soon as Ovi got the puck, Rangers players immediately closed down on him and took away that lethal shot he has. He was held without a point and that contributed to New York’s success. Additionally, I thought the Rangers were terrific with the man advantage. Similar to the deadly Avalanche power play, New York moves the puck really well. They move around so much and that makes it tricky to defend all that constant movement. They were 6/16 in this series and the Caps struggled to defend this talent filled power play group (NHL.com). In addition, the Rangers seemed pretty calm on the backend. Igor Shesterkin wasn’t called upon much but when he was, he made the important saves. Overall, The Rangers were fantastic in this series and I didn’t find any flaws in the President Trophy winners.
The Rangers, who were the heavy favorites coming into this series, took care of business against the Caps and the Rangers quest to bring the Cup to MSG is still alive. How will New York fare against the Islanders or Hurricanes? What changes do Spencer Carbery’s Caps need to make?