The Rangers and Hurricanes are set for game two, where the Blueshirts will look to even the best-of-five series (12:00 P.M. ET, MSG, NBCSN).
| Rangers | Post Season Leaders | Hurricanes |
| Zibanejad, Staal – 1 | Goals | Slavin, Aho, Necas – 1 |
| 4-way tie – 1 | Assists | 6-way tie -1 |
| Zibanejad – 2 | Points | Aho, Slavin – 2 |
| Lundqvist 34/37 | Saves/Shots Against | Mrazek 24/26 |
| 0-7 | PP Goals/Attemps | 1-7 |
Game one went about as poorly as any Ranger fan could imagine. For the first half of the game, the Blueshirts were completely overmatched and didn’t generate much offense.
“For the first 30 minutes, we were slow,” said head coach David Quinn. “They set the pace and the tempo, and I thought it took too long for us to respond to it.”
Henrik Lundqvist made a surprise start and kept the Rangers in the game as he as done many times in the past. Despite allowing a goal just a minute into the game on the first shot, Lundqvist settled in and stopped 34 of the 36 remaining shots to come his way.
“I enjoy being out there and competing,” Lundqvist said. “I think we did a lot of good things. We’ll watch some video and learn from this, and I’m sure we’ll be better in the next one.”
Igor Shesterkin was deemed unfit to play with what is believed to be an injury. The Russian born netminder was shown on camera in the arena – eliminating the rumor that he could have come down with Covid-19.
The Blueshirts bounced back in the second half of the game after scoring a redirection from Mika Zibanejad and a short-handed goal by Marc Staal in the final minute. Unfortunately, the Rangers came up just short and were defeated 3-2.
“I liked our will,” Quinn said. “I thought we battled. It just wasn’t enough.”
Things weren’t made easy for the Rangers after former Blueshirt Brady Skjei delivered a huge check on Jesper Fast in the opening moments of the game. Fast appeared to be woozy from the hit while trying to finish his shift before Jacob Slavin scored. Fast left the game and did not return with speculation being he suffered a concussion. The 28-year-old will not be available for game two. Steven Fogarty is the likely candidate to join the lineup, but former first-round pick Vitali Kravtsov is another option who could make his NHL debut. Expect to see more of Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko, and Julien Gauthier in game two.
“As much as it stings to lose game one, you win game two and you’re back on level ground,” said Jacob Trouba.” I think we have a pretty good understanding of that going into tomorrow.”
With suffering defeat in game one, the Rangers find themselves in basically must-win territory. The one major area the Blueshirts will hope to improve on is there offense; more particularly their powerplay which went 0-7 in game one. Carolina was very aggressive and disrupted a lot of plays in the neutral zone. The Canes didn’t spend much time in their own end throughout the course of the game. According to a chart from Clear Sight Analytics, the Rangers recorded just two high-scoring chances throughout the entire game. Superstars Artemi Panarin and Zibanejad will be looked upon to be more effective in game two. Despite each registering a point, they were mostly neutralized and were not creating chances on their respective lines.
The Hurricanes got points from players up-and-down the lineup and got good goaltending from Petr Mrazek. One big key to the game was special teams. Not only did the Hurricanes go 7-7 on the penalty kill, they also scored a powerplay goal on seven opportunities. Sami Vatanen who was acquired at the trade deadline quarterbacked the top powerplay unit and registered an assist in his first game as a member of Carolina. And it won’t get easier as the return of Dougie Hamilton nears. Hamilton won’t be available for game two, but he could be available as early as game three. Carolina can also call upon Trevor Van Riemsdyk and Ryan Dzingel to throw the Rangers a different look.
While the Hurricanes are expected to stick with the same lineup, the Rangers will have a different look without Fast. Not only will he be missed during five-on-five, but so will his presence on the penalty kill. In addition, if healthy, it sounds like Shesterkin will get the start. But if Shesterkin can’t go, expect to see Lundqvist in game two after a strong outing in game one.
Projected Lineup
Kreider-Zibanejad-Buchnevich
Panarin-Strome-Kakko
Di Giuseppe-Chytil-Gauthier
McKegg-Howden-Fogarty/Kravtsov
Smith-Trouba
Lindgren-Fox
Staal-DeAngelo
Lundqvist/Shesterkin
