Series Talk: Rangers @ Hurricanes - Metropolitan Division Final

[Rongomania]

1st Playoffs is not a reason for playing like shit

Horrendous team d in his losses was pretty apparent. And that's ok. This is the first crack this squad had and I am god damned proud of these boys. This is going to be a beautiful next decade man.

Panarin, Kreider, Zibanejad, Fox are all PPG or better

+ Copper

 

[tailgunner]

Sorry Carolina really doesn't scare me at all. Boston took them to 7 games and almost beat them. I think we will be alright but we need Goodrow back.

 

[KevinFinnerty]

Also Shesterkin ended the series with a .911 save percentage. That's solid.

 

[Brief Candle]

ESPN exclusive.

I hate this shit so much. Sam and Joe might drive me nuts sometimes, but they're our assholes.

 

[KevinFinnerty]

Laffy -4
Schneider -4
Chytil -5

Kids will have to play better 2 way hockey against the Canes

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

Toughest matchup in this series is gonna be NYR breakout vs Canes forecheck.

Reaves really should not dress in this series. Fear it will take 2 losses to actually happen.

 

[Machinehead]

It was his first playoff series in the NHL.

Team D was also atrocious in every 'bad' game he had.

Can someone (once again) bring up Hanks stats in his first series, he was 3x worse.

Forget his first series. Hank wasn't Hank in the playoffs until 2012.

 

[PuckLuck3043]

1st Playoffs is not a reason for playing like shit

Did you actually watch the games? He played a great 1st game and set a record for saves in a game by a Ranger goalie. What was it like 79? That's 2 active games worth. He also played a great game 7. I think that triple OT took a lot out of him plus the fact that we could not defend the Pens down low and he was bombarded with high quality scoring chances. I think he will bring his A game.

1st Playoffs is not a reason for playing like shit

Did you actually watch the games? He played a great 1st game and set a record for saves in a game by a Ranger goalie. What was it like 79? That's 2 active games worth. He also played a great game 7. I think that triple OT took a lot out of him plus the fact that we could not defend the Pens down low and he was bombarded with high quality scoring chances. I think he will bring his A game.

 

[pld459666]

Horrendous team d in his losses was pretty apparent. And that's ok. This is the first crack this squad had and I am god damned proud of these boys. This is going to be a beautiful next decade man.



+ Copper

I agree that the future is very bright, but everyone needs to be better.

Which was the point of my initial post.

Zone exits have to be better.

D-Zone coverage has to be better.

Igor has to be better.

They can be, but in case the 1st two are still shaky, Shesty can't be as bad as he was in round one if we want to steal a series.

Did you actually watch the games? He played a great 1st game and set a record for saves in a game by a Ranger goalie. What was it like 79? That's 2 active games worth. He also played a great game 7. I think that triple OT took a lot out of him plus the fact that we could not defend the Pens down low and he was bombarded with high quality scoring chances. I think he will bring his A game.


Did you actually watch the games? He played a great 1st game and set a record for saves in a game by a Ranger goalie. What was it like 79? That's 2 active games worth. He also played a great game 7. I think that triple OT took a lot out of him plus the fact that we could not defend the Pens down low and he was bombarded with high quality scoring chances. I think he will bring his A game.

Yes, I watched him get yanked twice after that monster game 1

Did you actually watch the games? He played a great 1st game and set a record for saves in a game by a Ranger goalie. What was it like 79? That's 2 active games worth. He also played a great game 7. I think that triple OT took a lot out of him plus the fact that we could not defend the Pens down low and he was bombarded with high quality scoring chances. I think he will bring his A game.


Did you actually watch the games? He played a great 1st game and set a record for saves in a game by a Ranger goalie. What was it like 79? That's 2 active games worth. He also played a great game 7. I think that triple OT took a lot out of him plus the fact that we could not defend the Pens down low and he was bombarded with high quality scoring chances. I think he will bring his A game.

Yes, I watched him get yanked twice after that monster game 1

 

[Leonardo87]

Panarin, Kreider, Zibanejad, Fox are all PPG or better

Trade those bums!

 

[rangers1314]

Whats the status of Anderson? Is he close?

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

I think we've collectively accepted our fate here which makes a very likely loss in this next series easier to swallow but I just don't have the amount of vitriol for Carolina that I do for other teams in the division/conference. I'd easily root for them against anyone else still playing other than maybe Florida, but thats because they're just fun to watch and they make a habit of spotting other teams 3+ goal leads and winning anyway.

Svechnikov is low key a f*** stick but thats about it.

 

[Peltz]

1st Playoffs is not a reason for playing like shit

Fortunately, Shesty was really good in game 1 and game 7. He started strong and finished strong.

He's shown he's capable of giving this team elite playoff goaltending, so now it's about being better in front of him and also allowing him the chance to put together more consistent performances game to game.

It would be one thing if he were bad for all 7 games. But he wasn't.

At the end of the day, he stole game 7 - they had no business winning that one. He was fantastic in their most high-pressure game. The only one you can maybe fault him on was giving up the break away goal and going down too early - but that was a ridiculously good shot as well.

 

[romba]

Extra day off will do wonders for Miller. Hoping Panarin can get a little healthy with that extra day too, Would have been rough to go straight in to the next series with one day off.

 

[pld459666]

Also Shesterkin ended the series with a .911 save percentage. That's solid.

Agree to disagree.

12th in the PO's for a goalie that should win the Vezina Trophy is less than solid.

great thing is that he has the ability and more importantly the opportunity to be better.

Fortunately, Shesty was really good in game 1 and game 7. He started strong and finished strong.

He's shown he's capable of giving this team elite playoff goaltending, so now it's about being better in front of him and also allowing him the chance to put together more consistent performances game to game.

It would be one thing if he were bad for all 7 games. But he wasn't.

At the end of the day, he stole game 7 - they had no business winning that one. He was fantastic in their most high-pressure game. The only one you can maybe fault him on was giving up the break away goal and going down too early - but that was a ridiculously good shot as well.

This is fair. I can agree with this.

 

[Synergy27]

My thoughts on this series:

1. There are two ways to beat the Carolina Hurricanes.

You either buckle up and hang on for dear life and steal a W with your goalie being MoM.

Or you take the game to them, exploit their Ds who aren’t the best defenders, and just push them back. These guys are superb on the forecheck, of playing fast but not too sloppy with the puck. They aren’t superb at stopping a dominant attack.

2. The three teams that have had the most success against Carolina are Florida, Toronto and Washington. Heavy attacking teams that thrives at spending time on the attack.

Especially with how the kid line have looked, we also have potential to mirror that style more.

3. What I fear is that we have so much confidence with winning games ‘with the hand break on’. Generally, if we don’t give a game away we get the saves and offensive plays anyway to win more than we lose, right?

4. The thing is, nothing suits Carolina better than a facing a more conservative passive team. They have pwned us, dominated Pittsburg, and so forth.

5. I would have loved to have a little more time before this series.

We have many others have changed it up in the attacking zone the last 5 years. That is why scoring is up. But to get more possession, it’s not wrong against Carolina to play with more margins. At least as long as we aren’t chasing. But that is not something that Gallant can put on a drawing board. Everyone must be on the same page, can’t have two guys crashing the net looking for a low percentage pass to get to the far post while the guy with the puck shots it around the boards instead.

The Rangers need to fix the second line to be able to do this next year. Ryan Strome is simply unable to play this game.

They have the fourth line horses to do it when healthy but the coach doesn’t seem interested in rolling those personnel out.

Crazier things have happened, but I think it behooves us all to treat this series as “gravy” and measure the team by how well they play compared to the bubble series.

 

[LokiDog]

The Canes will be favorites and rightly so but they are beatable. Boston just took them to a game 7 and lost by 1 goal so lets not make Carolina out to be the mid 80's Oilers. We were also tied for 1st with them about 2 weeks before the regular season ended. I think we will defend them better than Pitt tbh. They throw a lot of pucks on net but I think Pitt was able to get to the high danger areas more often. If Shesty is regular season Shesty and we continue to sit Nemeth then we have a chance. I do hope people including the Canes continue to think we have no shot.

This. Let’s have some faith. Carolina is gonna be beat up after a long series with the Bruins. Obviously we are too, but the playoffs are all about who steps up, who is healthy, who gets hot, etc.

Hopefully that OT goal was something Bread needed because we aren’t getting enough out of him, but it’s a new series and that can change. Mika seems to be heating up, which is big. If Shesty gains some confidence from winning his first game 7, great.

Carolina is definitely the favorite, and at this point we’ve exceeded season expectations and it’s all gravy, but I don’t like the negativity and lack of belief I’m seeing. It’s the playoffs. Anything can happen.

 

[Lion Hound]

There's lots of pressure here on the Canes. They are the favorites. Would love to take one of the games in Carolina. This team can do that.

Anyone hear anything about Goodrow?

 

[zlev]

if Igor can steal 2 games we have a chance. if Mika can stay hot we really have a chance. those two on fire together at the same time can do huge damage.

and we desperately need to change the lines

 

[gump116]

This just isn't a Reaves series. I wonder if he plays the role of Nemeth and it takes GG a few games to realize.

Who are your fastest guys? Play them. Play them all.

Would sit Reaves and switch up the top-2 lines a bit (second line needs more speed/forechecking)

Kreider-Zibanejad-Copp
Panarin-Strome-Motte
Kid line
Brodzinsky/Hunt-Rooney-Vatrano

 

[Rongomania]

I agree that the future is very bright, but everyone needs to be better.

Which was the point of my initial post.

Zone exits have to be better.

D-Zone coverage has to be better.

Igor has to be better.

They can be, but in case the 1st two are still shaky, Shesty can't be as bad as he was in round one if we want to steal a series.


Yes, I watched him get yanked twice after that monster game 1


Yes, I watched him get yanked twice after that monster game 1

I do agree he has another level for sure. We will need that level to win this series and I absolutely believe in #31. Every game we win in these playoffs is incredible experience for this group. It's beautiful to watch the seed begin to sprout here.

 

[McRanger92]

Starting Wednesday and getting the extra day of rest is huge for us because we know a few guys are walking wounded. Our big guns getting their mojo back is also huge, and Igor looks better with every passing game. Winning game 6 against PIT will help this team that got rattled on the road early; playing in Raleigh is no cakewalk.

Get a split in Carolina and go from there.

 

[Embryo]

I am still emotionally exhausted but feel so happy and relieved, this was the greatest thing to happen in NY sports for me since the Rangers beat the Habs in round 1 in 2017.

 

[New York RKY]

Agree with everything that has been said, we are playing with house money at this point. Coming back was a great experience for the team and I consider this season a major success already, anything else is gravy.

WITH THAT SAID, let’s do something that Boston couldn’t do…take one of the games in Raleigh. If we can get one of the first two games at their barn I think the series becomes a toss up. If they take the first two I think it could be over pretty swiftly.

 

[Peltz]

Crazier things have happened, but I think it behooves us all to treat this series as “gravy” and measure the team by how well they play compared to the bubble series.

Agreed. Penguins series was all about the learning experience for our less experienced players to get a taste of the difference between regular season vs. playoff hockey and figuring out those momentum swings. It was a series of emotional maturation and learning how to replicate some form of regular season success in a different atmosphere.

At the beginning of the season - many of us would have been happy with getting the Rangers to merely make the playoffs even if they didn't advance just to learn what it was all about.

With that out of the way, Canes series, in contrast, is a very different opportunity. The team has gotten that first series win out of the way (which, if you look at the Maple Leafs, can be considered FAR ahead of schedule).

Instead, the Canes series is now about the benchmark of how good the roster actually is having experienced a series win now that they're actually up against an established cup contender that has the depth, balance, and experience win against any team in the league. Even if the Rangers lose as expected, it will provide valuable data for tweaking the roster in the offseason.

Whatever the outcome, the team has learned a bit more of what it takes to have playoff success. And that's going to be huge for our young defensemen and forwards as they adjust their training regimens this offseason.