Rangers rely on Shesterkin, defense to slow down Devils in Game 1 win
Stifle New Jersey power play to start Eastern 1st Round series
"More often than not he's our best player," Rangers forward Chris Kreider said. "He certainly was tonight."
He has to be if the Rangers are going to play into June and win the Stanley Cup, which is their goal and expectation, but a 5-1 win against the New Jersey Devils in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at Prudential Center on Tuesday was less about Shesterkin and more about how the 18 skaters played in front of him.
The Rangers did everything they spent the past few days saying they need to do to slow down the super speedy Devils.
RELATED: [Complete Devils vs. Rangers series coverage]
They started strong, built a lead, blocked shots, had sticks in passing lanes, limited their turnovers in the neutral zone, dominated special teams and avoided risky plays.
It turned out maybe better than the Rangers had even planned it would.
Game 2 in the best-of-7 series is here Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; TBS, SN360, TVAS2, MSGSN, MSG).
"We've talked about it, and obviously it's cliches at a certain point but it's true, especially when you're going up against a fast, skilled team, they want you to turn it over in the neutral zone, get odd man rushes and get going the other way," said Rangers defenseman Adam Fox, who had four assists. "I thought we were smart with the puck. We capitalized on special teams, that's a big part of it. They're going to try to get chances. They're going to get their chances too and we need some big saves when they do, and we got them. If we play like this, we're going to have success."
The Devils built their success this season on their speed and it led to a team-record 52 wins to finish second in the Metropolitan Division.
The Rangers, third in the Metropolitan, know if they fuel it with turnovers in the middle of the ice they'll be setting Shesterkin up for a fall.
So in Game 1 they were careful with the puck, using smart chips into the zone, dump-ins when necessary, a live-to-fight-another-day mentality. When the rush chance presented itself, of course they went for it, but they didn't risk it.
"I just thought we played the right way," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. "We talked about managing the puck, not getting turnovers and giving them odd man rushes, and I thought we skated hard. But the biggest thing for us is we forechecked well. We did a good job in their zone and we didn't spend as much time in our zone."
The start was a big factor in how the Rangers could play.
They led 2-0 less than 10 minutes into the game on Vladimir Tarasenko's goal at 4:58 and Kreider's first on the power play at 9:30, an angled stick deflection from in front of the right post of Fox's pass down to him from the point.
As important, the Devils had three power plays in the first period, one that dribbled 41 seconds into the second period, and the Rangers did not allow them a shot on goal. The Devils also had another power play late in the second period that did not result in a shot on goal.
That's 0-for-4, zero shots for a Devils power play that was 13th in the NHL in the regular season at 21.9 percent.
"They did a lot of good things," Gallant said of the Rangers' penalty killers. "They had up ice pressure. They played strong on the blue line. They didn't give the entries. They just did a lot of real good things."
The Rangers blocked 23 shots, including seven from their fourth line of Barclay Goodrow (three), Jimmy Vesey (two) and Tyler Motte (two). They regularly knocked down or cut off the Devils' cross-ice passes that they love to use to set up scoring chances off the rush or in zone.
"They're a highly skilled team with guys that have great vision so they're always looking for the cross-ice passes and plays to the far side," Goodrow said. "It's a point of emphasis and I thought we did a great job."
The Rangers didn't relax either. They had their 2-0 lead and a would-be third goal taken away because
Alexis Lafreniere
clearly deflected Jacob Trouba's point shot with a high stick at 16:08 of the second period.
No worries. Ryan Lindgren scored 49 seconds later to officially give the Rangers a 3-0 lead that extended to 4-0 on Kreider's second power-play goal off another deflection, this time off of Fox's one-timer from the point at 11:07 of the third period.
"I liked the way we played the game the whole way and there wasn't a lot of risk," Gallant said. "There was a lot of plays behind their net. There was a lot of rush plays. But there wasn't many risks until their penalty shot goal."
Hughes ruined Shesterkin's bid for his first NHL postseason shutout by converting on a penalty shot with 2:46 remaining in the third period, but that was window dressing, really.
Filip Chytil scored into the empty net 48 seconds later.
"It was just a solid team effort," Gallant said. "[Shesterkin] played really well but I thought everybody on our team competed and played a good playoff game."
