It is a tenant of hockey any time of the year, but one especially important in the postseason: Get pucks and bodies to the front of the net, and if there is contact with the goaltender, so be it.
Turns out the Canadiens have done a better job of that through the opening two games of their first-round series with the Rangers, knotted at one game apiece after two games in Montreal. So when Game 3 commences Sunday night at the Garden, the Blueshirts are hoping to keep people away from goalie Henrik Lundqvist and as far away from the crease as possible.
“I think we have to do a better job boxing out,” winger Rick Nash said Saturday in Montreal, with his team using the day to travel back to New York after a gut-wrenching 4-3 overtime loss Friday night at Bell Centre. “I think we kind of let them have too many rebounds, too many jams. I think that stems from our play at the blue lines. Wingers have to be better at getting pucks out.”
With the Rangers holding a 3-2 lead in Game 2, they couldn’t keep Tomas Plekanec from getting to the front of the net — despite a slash from defenseman Nick Holden that broke his own stick and left him helpless to defend as Plekanec tied the score with 17.3 seconds remaining in regulation. They also couldn’t keep Alexander Radulov from jamming in the winner in overtime, as Mika Zibanejad gave a unsightly effort to keep him away as he jammed one in.
But not only do the Rangers need to defend better, they need to do the same in front of Carey Price if they have any chance of beating the superlative Montreal netminder with any regularity.
“It’s a big topic for us as well, trying to get pucks and bodies there,” captain Ryan McDonagh said. “They obviously had the puck more, second half of the third and overtime [in Game 2]. We’re going to try to do the same thing. You see it’s not always pretty goal, highlight-reel goals. If we find we get one or two more of those, jam pucks at the net, that’ll help us.”
The Rangers recorded 74 hits in Game 2, and though it is a stat kept with inconsistency throughout the league, it was the most they have had in a playoff game since that stat began being tracked in 1997-98. They now have to try to get back to their high-tempo style that carried them through most of the regular season while also not losing the physicality necessary in the postseason.
“When you get into a playoff game, I think there needs to be some physicality there, and I think we’ve done a good job of making sure that we’re answering that,” center Derek Stepan said. “I also think that our team is built on speed and we can find ways to get back to that, as well. We have to find a balance between the two of them.”
With that physicality, there have been a lot of post-whistle scrums — but not very many cheap shots besides the spear Rick Nash took the groin at the end of Game 1.
“Playoff hockey. I think you look around the league, I don’t know if you’re going to see regular season, people stopping in front of the net without a scrum,” Stepan said. “It’s that time of year. I didn’t think there was any cheap shots thrown, it was just a playoff game.”