New York Rangers Dominate Caps in Game 1 Victory
The New York Rangers are off to a flying start to the 2024 postseason, following a dominating 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Sunday afternoon.
The New York Rangers Pressure
After a scoreless third period, the Rangers keyed up the offense and put tons of pressure on the aging Capitals. Matt Rempe, Artemi Panarin, and Jimmy Vessy all scored within two minutes of one another in the second period. to blow the game wide open at 3-0.
Chris Kreider would add one more goal for good measure late in the third period to seal it.
In goal for the New York Rangers, Igor Shesterkin was once again his solid self. 21 times the Capitals took shots on g0al, and 20 times he stopped them. It also helped that Shesterkin’s teammates helped out, flustering the Capitals numerous times on the power play, by kicking the puck out in defense of the net.
Head Coach Peter Laviolette was pleased — to an extent — with the effort, “It’s obviously good to get that first one. There’s things we could have done better. … You need to win one at a time, so for that the result was good.”
The Blue Shirts and Caps go at it again in Game 2 on Tuesday.
The Islanders Must Win Game 2
Meanwhile, the New York Islanders face a steep hill to climb in Game 2 of their best-of-seven series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
New York fell to the Canes 3-1 in Game on Saturday. Evgeny Kuznetsov, whom the Hurricanes acquired at the deadline scored the opening goal of Game 1, and will likely be a thorn in the Islanders’ side all series.
“This is a team that plays well defensively, so there might not be tic-tac-toe kind of goals,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “It might be more like, ‘Hey, we need to bring the puck to the net.’ … These are the type of goals that we might have to have.”
Game 2 is tonight at 7:30.
