I'm not sure I agree here, Carolina was better than us in the game that Vanecek got a shut out in and the game we won back in January when Kotchekov gave up 3 bad goals in that game. Sure you can say that their goaltending is a massive downfall but who's to say they don't get the finishing they were lacking in some of those games too against us? The Rangers don't scare me as much as they have a top flight goalie, the defense is utterly atrocious. Miller has regressed since being hot in his January stretch and Trouba is literally a pylon as shown by last night. Most Rangers fans don't even think Lindgren will be back as I was looking over their post game thread and think he sustained an injury when he came back to the spot he already hurt so that's another minus on their roster. Not to mention, Fox has looked like utter dogshit since being paired with Mikkola. Carolina is a far worse matchup than the Rangers for us than NYR, I don't really care about the superstar argument much either.
I really don't think the Canes were better than us in the recent game. They controlled quantity sure but we did a better job of controlling quality and we were up by at least 2 for basically the whole game and 3 for nearly 2 periods. The Canes were playing from behind the whole time and they couldn't even manage to muster anything dangerous up. Canes will do their Canes thing but I don't have much faith in their offense actually pulling it off and we're more than good enough to give them an even series when it comes to driving play.
Over the past month we've had at least 60% xG (some much higher) in almost all of our games against contenders. Did it to the Avs, Knights, Leafs, all Lightning games (rounded for one but it's 59.72), Rangers. It is fair to point out the one game we didn't do it was the Canes game which was 53.76%. I never once felt like we were in any danger though. Even the games we did win against the other contenders and dominated play far more than we did against the Canes were a lot more scary because they were legitimately threatening when they had the puck. The Canes are not threatening offensively. I simply don't think the Canes have the firepower to be all that scary. Our xG% the past month leads the league at 60.67%. The one thing the Canes have over most teams is their ability to dominate games possession wise. We're good enough to at the very least match them there and we have the better talent. Sure they can beat us but I like how we matchup very well.
I really like how we matchup skater wise against the Rangers as well but Igor is good enough to basically singlehandedly win a series and Fox/Panarin/Zibanejad/Kane/Tarasenko/Kreider is good enough to give him the minimal support he might need.
If the finishing doesn't turn around I do not feel good about our chances against the Rangers. On the other hand I think even with lackluster finishing we have a decent chance against the Canes. I think it's a tossup at that point. Play could be split 50/50 and neither team can be relied upon to score.
If the finishing does turn around then I really don't think this is all that difficult of a road to the ECF. It's the only true concern I have with this team.
Lots of Ranger fans hanging their hat on that performance last night. Idk why.
They were outskated into the dirt every damn period. Shesterkin had 4 pucks sitting in the blue paint where he was fortunate it did not go in. Devils hit a pipe as well. Their only goal was unearned as we f***ed up on it. As others mentioned, it was their 5th worse analytically game on the season.
A lot of them saying it was just the 1st and then they were fine the 2nd and 3rd. We were better in the 2nd and 3rd as well lol. That game would've gotten ugly fast if not for Igor and it's not like the Rangers managed to create great chances in the 2nd/3rd.
