Game 7. Every kid’s dream.
By the time tonight’s tilt at the United Center is over, the Chicago Blackhawks will have rallied from a 3-1 series deficit and asserted their championship pedigree, or the surprising Detroit Red Wings will have rebounded from consecutive failures to clinch by finally knocking off the predominant favorite to challenge for the Stanley Cup.
Like Tuesday night’s epic battle between Los Angeles and San Jose, Wednesday night’s clash should be a thriller between two deep, talented and well-coached clubs. But what’s it going to take to win?
Muir: Kings top Sharks in Game 7, advance to West Finals
Let’s dispense with the obvious — get pucks and traffic to the net, keep the gaps tight, work the body, stay out of the box, get a big game from the goaltender — and look at each team’s three specific keys to claiming Game 7 and moving on to meet the Kings:
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
San Jose Sharks vs Los Angeles Kings May 28, 2013
The San Jose Sharks played much better than a 6-seed in the first round of the NHL playoffs but that play seemed to elude them early on in their series against Los Angeles. The Kings simply outplayed the Sharks in the first two games of the series but things changed when Games three and four were played in San Jose.
And that’s really been the story of series as neither team has surrendered home ice and it’s naturally forced a deadlock that’s led to this Game 7 showdown between Los Angeles and San Jose. It’s really hard to say who has the upper hand beyond the home ice advantage as these teams have traded blows pretty evenly throughout.
But if it comes down to it, the combination of home ice advantage and netminder Jonathan Quick may be too much for San Jose to overcome as they’d have to be the first team in this series to muster up a road win if they want to advance to yet another Conference Finals appearance.
And that’s really been the story of series as neither team has surrendered home ice and it’s naturally forced a deadlock that’s led to this Game 7 showdown between Los Angeles and San Jose. It’s really hard to say who has the upper hand beyond the home ice advantage as these teams have traded blows pretty evenly throughout.
But if it comes down to it, the combination of home ice advantage and netminder Jonathan Quick may be too much for San Jose to overcome as they’d have to be the first team in this series to muster up a road win if they want to advance to yet another Conference Finals appearance.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Blackhawks vs Red Wings May 27, 2013
The Chicago Blackhawks were Presidents Trophy winners and were supposed to have no problem with the Detroit Red Wings, but things did not go according to plan in the Western Conference semifinals. The Wings rolled off three straight wins to go up 3-1 in the series and the Hawks looked destined for an early exit.
Monday's Game 6 begins at 8 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network.
Chicago got back in the series with a Game 5 win, though, and have flipped the pressure onto Detroit. Now the Red Wings have to win at home in Game 6 or slip all momentum to the Blackhawks, who would have one game at home to advance to the conference finals.
The Wings will be comforted by their 4-1 playoff record at Joe Louis Arena, which looks even better because the Blackhawks are just 2-4 on the road. This is Detroit's best chance to win this series because a road Game 7 is looming, where all of the smart money will be on Chicago.
Monday's Game 6 begins at 8 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network.
Chicago got back in the series with a Game 5 win, though, and have flipped the pressure onto Detroit. Now the Red Wings have to win at home in Game 6 or slip all momentum to the Blackhawks, who would have one game at home to advance to the conference finals.
The Wings will be comforted by their 4-1 playoff record at Joe Louis Arena, which looks even better because the Blackhawks are just 2-4 on the road. This is Detroit's best chance to win this series because a road Game 7 is looming, where all of the smart money will be on Chicago.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Los Angeles Kings vs San Jose Sharks May 26, 2013
Los Angeles has an opportunity to punch its ticket for the Western Conference finals tonight in San Jose. The Kings and Sharks square off at 8 p.m. ET at HP Pavilion, where San Jose is 4-0 this postseason.
The Sharks trail Los Angeles 3-2 in a series that has seen the home team win every game. The Kings claimed a 3-0 victory in Game 5, riding goalie Jonathan Quick's seventh playoff shutout to a pivotal win.
Can San Jose stave off elimination, or will Los Angeles move one step closer to a Stanley Cup repeat? Stay tuned right here for live updates, analysis and reaction.
SAN JOSE -- Jonathan Quick is a Los Angeles Kings goalie. He is not a doorman behind a velvet rope at a nightclub entrance. But you'd never know it, given the Sharks' difficulty getting pucks past him.
Maybe that's because they are treating him more as a doorman. And treating the Kings' defensive zone coverage as more of a velvet rope.
Excuse me, Mr. Quick. Could we push your defensemen out of the way here a little bit, so that we could score a goal? Puh-leeez? Mr. Quick? What do you mean we can't get in? Don't you know who we are? We're the guys with the great power play! Our names should be on the list! Look again!
The velvet rope strategy must end Sunday night for the Sharks, or their season
will be over. They face Quick and the Kings at HP Pavilion in Game 6 of a series that ends if the Sharks lose. And it will end, unless they solve Quick. He's shut out the Sharks twice in the series. He's allowed seven goals total in the five games.
"When you get your chance, you've got to bear down on him," said Sharks captain Joe Thornton.
Which means what?
"When you get within 10 feet of him, you've got to find the opening, find the hole," Thornton said. "You hope to use his aggressiveness against him, use the back door."
Doesn't sound impossible. It certainly wasn't two years ago. If the Sharks plan to extend this series, they might try getting a little nostalgic for 2011. The beloved Los Tiburones defeated
The Sharks trail Los Angeles 3-2 in a series that has seen the home team win every game. The Kings claimed a 3-0 victory in Game 5, riding goalie Jonathan Quick's seventh playoff shutout to a pivotal win.
Can San Jose stave off elimination, or will Los Angeles move one step closer to a Stanley Cup repeat? Stay tuned right here for live updates, analysis and reaction.
SAN JOSE -- Jonathan Quick is a Los Angeles Kings goalie. He is not a doorman behind a velvet rope at a nightclub entrance. But you'd never know it, given the Sharks' difficulty getting pucks past him.
Maybe that's because they are treating him more as a doorman. And treating the Kings' defensive zone coverage as more of a velvet rope.
Excuse me, Mr. Quick. Could we push your defensemen out of the way here a little bit, so that we could score a goal? Puh-leeez? Mr. Quick? What do you mean we can't get in? Don't you know who we are? We're the guys with the great power play! Our names should be on the list! Look again!
The velvet rope strategy must end Sunday night for the Sharks, or their season
will be over. They face Quick and the Kings at HP Pavilion in Game 6 of a series that ends if the Sharks lose. And it will end, unless they solve Quick. He's shut out the Sharks twice in the series. He's allowed seven goals total in the five games.
"When you get your chance, you've got to bear down on him," said Sharks captain Joe Thornton.
Which means what?
"When you get within 10 feet of him, you've got to find the opening, find the hole," Thornton said. "You hope to use his aggressiveness against him, use the back door."
Doesn't sound impossible. It certainly wasn't two years ago. If the Sharks plan to extend this series, they might try getting a little nostalgic for 2011. The beloved Los Tiburones defeated
Saturday, May 25, 2013
New York Rangers vs Boston Bruins May 25, 2013
Game 5 between the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers is about an hour away, and the Blueshirts will be looking to stave of elimination for the second game in a row. Game 4 required several gutsy comebacks and overtime, but New York managed to avoid the sweep.
Now, the Rangers will try to take one more step towards history.
Only three teams have returned from a 3-0 hole. Most recently, the Philadelphia Flyers turned the trick on these same Bruins in 2010. That series isn't a factor in this one, however, and the B's will likely come out flying on home ice.
Tuukka Rask will look to rebound from a so-so effort in Game 4 that saw him give up two fluky goals. Games like that rarely come in pairs, though, and the Rangers will likely have to find more conventional ways to score goals.
Puck drop is set for 5:30 p.m. ET, and the game is available on NBCSN in the United States.
Now, the Rangers will try to take one more step towards history.
Only three teams have returned from a 3-0 hole. Most recently, the Philadelphia Flyers turned the trick on these same Bruins in 2010. That series isn't a factor in this one, however, and the B's will likely come out flying on home ice.
Tuukka Rask will look to rebound from a so-so effort in Game 4 that saw him give up two fluky goals. Games like that rarely come in pairs, though, and the Rangers will likely have to find more conventional ways to score goals.
Puck drop is set for 5:30 p.m. ET, and the game is available on NBCSN in the United States.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Pittsburgh Penguins vs Ottawa Senators May 19, 2013
OTTAWA (AP) - Jason Spezza doesn't have much time to return to form if the Ottawa Senators want to extend their season.
The star forward hasn't played since Jan. 27 after undergoing back surgery for a herniated disk. He'll rejoin Ottawa's lineup Sunday for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Senators trailing 2-0 to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
"I'm excited to have a chance to play again," Spezza said. "I feel ready to play."
He will immediately add depth to a struggling offense and power play.
"We're excited about the skill that he brings back to our team and we're looking forward to it," Senators coach Paul MacLean said. "We certainly feel that he's going to give us some help on the power play, for sure. He can help us quite a bit there."
The Senators' power play has gone 1 for 7 through the first two games.
Spezza's minutes will be monitored, and MacLean suggested his time on the ice could vary depending on the number of power plays the Senators get.
Spezza is expected to line up with Milan Michalek and possibly Colin Greening.
"He's such a skilled playmaker that if you're on the ice with him you know to keep your stick on the ice because he finds a way to get the puck to you," Zack Smith said. "When you're playing with guys like that, you're just more prone to go to the net and go to those areas and be more confident."
Spezza hopes his timing comes back quickly.
"Basically I'm just going to go out and work hard and be smart," he said. "I expect to play well.
"I wouldn't play unless I felt I could help the team and contribute."
Spezza had two goals and three assists in just five games during the regular season.
"It's going to be important to be in his face right away and make sure he doesn't have time and space," Pittsburgh's Kris Letang said. "He's got good hands, so he can make you look really bad. So if you're in his face and have a good gap, you have a better chance of having success against him."
The Senators are undefeated at Scotiabank Place in the playoffs this year.
"We need to play to our identity," MacLean said. "We have to try and establish our game first. What hurt us in the first two games is not getting off to a (good) start, and we're down in the first three minutes of both games and catch-up hockey is losing hockey."
Despite being pulled after allowing three goals in Friday's game, Craig Anderson will get the start Sunday.
"They're going to be desperate and we know this is going to be the toughest test yet," Sidney Crosby said. "We need to start well, but just a play a complete game and give ourselves a chance."
History suggests the Senators might not have one when it comes to winning this series, as Ottawa has never done so after dropping the first two games.
Rallying against the Penguins certainly means tighter defense on Crosby. Ottawa played tentatively in its own end against the superstar in Game 2, and Crosby took advantage by needing just over one period to complete his second playoff hat trick in the 4-3 victory.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Penguins vs Islanders May 11, 2013
or five games, Sidney Crosby and John Tavares have been on opposite sides in the quest to lead their teams to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
On Friday, the stars of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Islanders found themselves going head-to-head again: this time to be the NHL MVP.
One day before the teams were set to face off in Game 6 of the first-round, Eastern Conference series, Crosby and Tavares were announced as finalists - along with Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin - for the Hart Trophy.
The voting is already in, so these stars can't campaign on or off the ice to gain support. All three are also in the mix for the Stanley Cup, but either Crosby or Tavares will be eliminated from that chase by the end of the weekend.
" It's a tremendous honor to be recognized, especially with those two guys and what great players they are, and so many other great players that had great seasons,'' Tavares said. " They've proved to be the best players in the game for a long time. They are still at really young ages, and they keep getting better, as well." They are not easy guys to play against each and every night. You see their consistency and what makes them great players. That helps push me to want to become better, knowing I have to compete against those guys. I have to raise the level of my game."
Tavares (2009), Ovechkin (2004) and Crosby (2005) were all chosen No. 1 in the NHL draft. Crosby is the only one to capture the Stanley Cup, and he was the Hart winner in 2007. Ovechkin won the award in 2008 and 2009.
" He's done a lot, came into the league with a lot of pressure,'' Crosby said of Tavares. " I can relate to what that feels like, knowing there's pressure coming onto his own team. There are similarities but he's his own player. He had a great season and led the way for them and he's definitely gotten better and better each year."
The 22-year-old Tavares, in his fourth NHL season, increased his goal and point totals in each of his first three years. He was on his way to a career year, scoring 28 goals - the third most in the NHL and just three shy of his best output - and 47 points in this 48-game campaign.
The only Islanders player to win the Hart was Bryan Trottier in 1979. Trottier had two other second-place finishes, and Denis Potvin was runner-up once. The team's best recent result was 1993 when Pierre Turgeon was fifth.
Tavares was the key figure in getting the Islanders into the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
" He just keeps getting smarter and more mature, learning what he is capable of in this league,'' linemate Matt Moulson said. " He just works extremely hard to get better at each area. That's what makes him such a special player." He is very deserving. I am sure he probably could've done it with a lot of people on his wing."
Crosby has the upper hand right now, following the Penguins' dominating 4-0 home victory on Thursday that gave Pittsburgh a 3-2 series lead and put the club within one win of the second round. The teams will meet again Saturday night on Long Island. If the Islanders stave off elimination on home ice they will set up a winner-take-all showdown in Pittsburgh on Sunday.
The Penguins and Islanders have alternated wins each game of this series. But the Islanders have absorbed 5-0 and 4-0 losses among their three defeats against Pittsburgh, and they know they will have to be at their best to stay alive.
" If you lose 9-0 or 3-2, for us it's game by game. It's a loss,'' Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. " We have to reload, we have to refocus, re-energize ourselves - minds and bodies - to get ready." We've been in these must-win situations before, and our guys have responded pretty well. We're at home, and hopefully we'll have that barn rocking here again like we had the previous two games to feed off of."
What they haven't shown is an ability to solve Penguins veteran backup goalie Tomas Vokoun, who took over for struggling starter Marc-Andre Fleury for Game 5 and posted a shutout.
That was just par for the course for Vokoun this year against the Islanders. Counting the regular season and his performance Thursday, Vokoun is 4-0 with an 0.69 goals-against average and .977 save percentage in five games.
The shutouts came in his last two games, and Vokoun hasn't allowed a goal to the Islanders in 122 minutes, 28 seconds, dating to Josh Bailey's score in the second period on March 22 in New York. He has stopped 129 of 132 shots.
" We didn't have too much success against him in the regular season, but we're playing much better in this series than we did in the regular season," Tavares said.
Penguins coach Dan Bylsma declined to pick a Game 6 starter, but Vokoun is the odds-on favorite to get the nod.
None of the Islanders could explain why they haven't managed to do damage against Vokoun, choosing instead to put the blame on themselves.
On Friday, the stars of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Islanders found themselves going head-to-head again: this time to be the NHL MVP.
One day before the teams were set to face off in Game 6 of the first-round, Eastern Conference series, Crosby and Tavares were announced as finalists - along with Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin - for the Hart Trophy.
The voting is already in, so these stars can't campaign on or off the ice to gain support. All three are also in the mix for the Stanley Cup, but either Crosby or Tavares will be eliminated from that chase by the end of the weekend.
" It's a tremendous honor to be recognized, especially with those two guys and what great players they are, and so many other great players that had great seasons,'' Tavares said. " They've proved to be the best players in the game for a long time. They are still at really young ages, and they keep getting better, as well." They are not easy guys to play against each and every night. You see their consistency and what makes them great players. That helps push me to want to become better, knowing I have to compete against those guys. I have to raise the level of my game."
Tavares (2009), Ovechkin (2004) and Crosby (2005) were all chosen No. 1 in the NHL draft. Crosby is the only one to capture the Stanley Cup, and he was the Hart winner in 2007. Ovechkin won the award in 2008 and 2009.
" He's done a lot, came into the league with a lot of pressure,'' Crosby said of Tavares. " I can relate to what that feels like, knowing there's pressure coming onto his own team. There are similarities but he's his own player. He had a great season and led the way for them and he's definitely gotten better and better each year."
The 22-year-old Tavares, in his fourth NHL season, increased his goal and point totals in each of his first three years. He was on his way to a career year, scoring 28 goals - the third most in the NHL and just three shy of his best output - and 47 points in this 48-game campaign.
The only Islanders player to win the Hart was Bryan Trottier in 1979. Trottier had two other second-place finishes, and Denis Potvin was runner-up once. The team's best recent result was 1993 when Pierre Turgeon was fifth.
Tavares was the key figure in getting the Islanders into the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
" He just keeps getting smarter and more mature, learning what he is capable of in this league,'' linemate Matt Moulson said. " He just works extremely hard to get better at each area. That's what makes him such a special player." He is very deserving. I am sure he probably could've done it with a lot of people on his wing."
Crosby has the upper hand right now, following the Penguins' dominating 4-0 home victory on Thursday that gave Pittsburgh a 3-2 series lead and put the club within one win of the second round. The teams will meet again Saturday night on Long Island. If the Islanders stave off elimination on home ice they will set up a winner-take-all showdown in Pittsburgh on Sunday.
The Penguins and Islanders have alternated wins each game of this series. But the Islanders have absorbed 5-0 and 4-0 losses among their three defeats against Pittsburgh, and they know they will have to be at their best to stay alive.
" If you lose 9-0 or 3-2, for us it's game by game. It's a loss,'' Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. " We have to reload, we have to refocus, re-energize ourselves - minds and bodies - to get ready." We've been in these must-win situations before, and our guys have responded pretty well. We're at home, and hopefully we'll have that barn rocking here again like we had the previous two games to feed off of."
What they haven't shown is an ability to solve Penguins veteran backup goalie Tomas Vokoun, who took over for struggling starter Marc-Andre Fleury for Game 5 and posted a shutout.
That was just par for the course for Vokoun this year against the Islanders. Counting the regular season and his performance Thursday, Vokoun is 4-0 with an 0.69 goals-against average and .977 save percentage in five games.
The shutouts came in his last two games, and Vokoun hasn't allowed a goal to the Islanders in 122 minutes, 28 seconds, dating to Josh Bailey's score in the second period on March 22 in New York. He has stopped 129 of 132 shots.
" We didn't have too much success against him in the regular season, but we're playing much better in this series than we did in the regular season," Tavares said.
Penguins coach Dan Bylsma declined to pick a Game 6 starter, but Vokoun is the odds-on favorite to get the nod.
None of the Islanders could explain why they haven't managed to do damage against Vokoun, choosing instead to put the blame on themselves.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Detroit Red Wings vs Anaheim Ducks May 8, 2013
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- - Ryan Getzlaf knows the Anaheim Ducks could be getting frustrated.
Instead, he thinks they're just getting started.
The Ducks have controlled long stretches of their matchup with Detroit, outscoring the Red Wings over the first four games while getting superior goaltending from Jonas Hiller. Yet the series is even heading into Game 5 on Wednesday night at Honda Center.
Second-seeded Anaheim's stellar regular-season record and formidable talent haven't mattered to the Red Wings, who sneaked out two overtime victories despite playing with a lead in just one of the series' four games.
It's a recipe for tension in the Ducks' dressing room heading into a pivotal point of the first-round series. But to Getzlaf and his teammates, every element of the playoff march is a privilege, particularly after the Ducks missed the postseason in two of the past three years.
" We're far from frustrated,'' the Anaheim captain said Tuesday after the Ducks' long flight from Detroit to Orange County. " This is playoff hockey. This is the best time of the year, and we're in a best-of-three series now. We always knew it was going to be a long series. ... It's been a grind throughout the year. We've always been able to rise up to the occasion, and we're hoping for that tomorrow (in Game 5)."
The Ducks expect to have little trouble regrouping after they barely missed a chance to take a 3-1 series lead in Game 4 on Monday night. After Anaheim blew a third-period lead, Damien Brunner's overtime goal evened the series for the Red Wings, who appeared to be on the ropes after getting shut out by Hiller in the first 100 minutes of the teams' two games at Joe Louis Arena.
" One goal the other way (in Game 4), and everybody is happy around here," Getzlaf said.
Instead, the Ducks must find additional determination to get past their playoff-tested opponents. Anaheim will have the advantage of its favored matchups on home ice in Game 5 and a potential Game 7, yet neither team believes matchups or friendly crowds have made much impact on this series.
" Quite frankly, the matchups only work if your team is playing well and you get a lead,'' Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. " If you don't get a lead, you may have some great defensive matchups, but you're going to have to change because you need to score goals. We'll get the last change (in Game 5), which will help, because I thought the last game they were definitely trying to get (Pavel) Datsyuk's line against one specific line, and we tried to change it a few times. It's a difficult thing to do."
Datsyuk scored the tying goal with 6:33 left in regulation in Game 4 for the Red Wings, who finally flexed their offensive skills at home after five-plus periods without a score.
The Red Wings made an obvious effort to get more shots at Hiller in Game 4, sending pucks at the Anaheim net at every opportunity. Hiller was solid all night, but the Red Wings' mentality eventually led to Brunner's winning goal.
Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/hockey/nhl/gameflash/2013/05/08/32562_preview.html#ixzz2Skb2ijXz
Los Angeles Kings vs St. Louis Blues May 8, 2013
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The defending Stanley Cup champions certainly looked the part while evening their series against the St. Louis Blues, whose best move is turning the page.
The Los Angeles Kings dominated the second half of Game 4, powering past a pair of deficits behind forechecking that put the Blues on their heels, and have all the momentum in a series that's tied at 2-2.
The Kings' plan is simple for Game 5 Wednesday night in St. Louis: Keep the pedal down and play physical but smart.
"There hasn't been much difference in the games whether it's home or road," coach Darryl Sutter said. "It's all one-goal games and they're all third-period games and you just by shift by shift."
The Blues have a day to re-boot the system and still have home-ice advantage, by virtue of finishing a single point ahead of the Kings for the fourth seed in the Western Conference. The home team has won all four games, each by a goal.
"Who's got control of anything right now?" coach Ken Hitchcock said. "They dialed it up, so there's another level out there and it's our job now to answer the level. We've got home ice, we've earned it, and it's best of three now and we'll see where it goes."
St. Louis has won eight in a row at home, allowing one goal each time, and are facing a team that's been vulnerable away from the Staples Center. The Kings have a nine-game winning streak at home and have dropped eight in a row on the road, including a pair of shootouts in April.
The Blues appeared primed for a knockout punch in Game 4 with two early goals, setting the tone for an uncharacteristic wide-open 4-3 final that matched the scoring total the entire series for both sides. The Kings shrugged off that deficit, scored twice in 1:16 in the third to seize their first lead, and never looked back.
"I think we've been getting better every night," forward Jeff Carter said. "We've been in that position before and these guys don't get too down on themselves. We just chipped away."
The Kings became the first No. 8 seed to win the Cup last year, knocking off the first, second and third seeds. They trailed in the third period just once, in the opening round. They had to dig deep in Game 4, erasing a two-goal deficit for the first time since 2001. The last two periods, the Kings outshot St. Louis 23-10.
"There's a lot of resilience in this room," forward Dustin Penner said. "Obviously, we draw on experiences from last year."
The Blues couldn't sustain their opening jump and perhaps stunned after falling behind never mounted much of a counter-attack.
Boston Bruins vs Toronto Maple Leafs May 8, 2013
The fans at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto were buzzing prior to Game 3 on Monday evening. It was the Maple Leafs' first playoff home game since 2004 and they hoped to be elated once the night was over. The ecstasy never came as the Leafs were run out of the building by the Boston Bruins in a 5-2 victory. Toronto will look to even the series on Wednesday in Game 4.
"If we want to be blatantly honest, we made some mistakes that ended up in our net," Toronto coach Randy Carlyle said after the game. "When you do that, usually you end up on the wrong side of the score. In the playoffs, you can't give the opposition (chances). I'm not taking it away from the Bruins, that they didn't earn it, but when you make mistakes with the puck that lead to Grade-A scoring chances and they score, those are tough ones for our group."
He did note that the work ethic was there from his squad. "I thought our work ethic was really strong," Carlyle noted. "We worked hard and did a lot of good things, but our execution level and the mistakes we made aren't going to allow us to win a hockey game playing like that. [Boston Bruins goalie Tuuka] Rask played well ... he made the stops he needed to make and I don't think we had enough traffic at the net and enough concentration of offensive zone time."
Washington Capitals vs New York Rangers May 8, 2013
The New York Rangers had such a simple plan when they got home from Washington in an 0-2 hole against the Capitals: find a way to get one win.
It worked so well in a hard-fought 4-3 victory on Monday night that they are heading into Wednesday's Game 4 at Madison Square Garden with the very same objective.
" All we were focused on is doing whatever we could to try to win a game,'' Rangers coach John Tortorella said. " We did that, and now we need to try to win one more game, and we'll see what happens from there." While the Capitals stayed off the ice on Tuesday to recover, the Rangers held a full practice. They were without forward Rick Nash, who was given a " maintenance day," and Darroll Powe, who was injured on Monday and is unlikely to play in Game 4.
If the Rangers can win again Wednesday, they will assure themselves of hosting Game 6 after a game in between in Washington on Friday.
After netting only one goal in the two road losses - including a 1-0 overtime defeat in Game 2 - the Rangers' offense broke out. New York even scored a power-play goal and added another tally just as another advantage ended.
" We didn't break,'' said Rangers forward Derick Brassard, who had a goal and two assists on Monday. " I think our bunch was really positive. Guys were really confident that we tried to find a way to win the game. At the end of the game our top line came out strong for us. They were competing hard all game. They came out huge for us to get that goal.
That winner was scored by Derek Stepan, who deflected a pass from Nash in behind goalie Braden Holtby with 6:25 left in regulation. It was the Rangers' second tiebreaking goal of the third period.
It never would've happened if defenseman Ryan McDonagh hadn't deftly kept the puck in the Washington end just before it was about to leave the zone at the left point. McDonagh moved the puck to Mats Zuccarello, who got it to Nash for the winning play.
The moment was sweet redemption for the 23-year-old McDonagh, whose delay-of-game penalty when he inadvertently shot the puck out of play led directly to Mike Green's overtime goal in Game 2 on Saturday.
" He makes a mistake, and to me that's not a mistake, it's just happenstance,'' Tortorella said of the Game 2 penalty. " It never bothers him. It killed him after the game, but that's what, at such a young age, that he has. He is able to recover and go out and play. It doesn't surprise me at all how he handled himself."
McDonagh also has the daunting task of trying to keep top Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin in check. Ovechkin had no points while logging over 22 minutes of ice time in Game 3.
Ovechkin wasn't one of the few players the Capitals made available to reporters at the team hotel on Tuesday, but coach Adam Oates addressed comments from McDonagh that Ovechkin seemed tired before the Rangers scored the winning goal.
" I don't think he was tired,'' Oates said. " I think that I didn't do a good enough job getting him in his rhythm, probably because of penalties."
The Capitals were short-handed six times and received only three power plays of their own. The last came with 1:54 remaining after Ovechkin was high-sticked by Brad Richards.
Washington pulled Holtby for an extra skater, giving the Capitals a 6-on-4 skating advantage, and put on lots of pressure in the Rangers' end. While the Capitals controlled the puck as time ran down, they never got a shot in on goalie Henrik Lundqvist.
Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/hockey/nhl/gameflash/2013/05/08/32596_preview.html#ixzz2SkGB0tM2
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)