To Absolutely No One's Surprise, The Rangers Take A 3-0 Series Stranglehold Over The Capitals
Patrick Smith. Getty Images.The Caps stink. STINK.
Their night seemingly started off pretty fortunate thanks to Igor Shesterkin spotting them a 1-0 lead early on after whiffing with his blocker on a harmless John Carlson wrister. Turns out that freebie was actually the worst thing that could've happened to Washington because Igor woke the fuck up. Chris Kreider got the goal back just 34 seconds later before a Goodrow shorty soon after gave them a lead they'd never surrender thanks in large part to Shesterkin. The undermanned Capitals threw everything they could at him - which isn't a lot, but could've been enough to beat an average goaltender. In the final 40 minutes they dominated scoring chances (21-11) & high-danger chances (12-3) yet Igor made incredible save after incredible save. None better than this one to rob Pacioretty on the doorstep:
Igor straight up ROBBED Pacioretty in front 😱 pic.twitter.com/oaJFJwO1p9
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 27, 2024
How about that Rangers PK? I mean it's not like they're going up against a PP juggernaut, but there's something to be said about a unit killing 13 of 15 in three playoff games (6 for 6 tonight) while offsetting those two PPG's with a pair of SHG's. I'd say they definitely need to stop taking so many penalties but the refs have been so abysmal this series - BOTH WAYS - I don't think it's been as bad as the scoresheet reflects. After Game 2 all the talk was about the Panarin hit on Oshie & how that should've been penalized, which Oshie disagreed with Biz on national television & said he "loved it":
TJ Oshie had no problems with the Artemi Panarin hit in Game 2 pic.twitter.com/mZJehxZ0mM
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 26, 2024
Tonight it was none other than the Rempire State Building dropping Trevor van Riemsdyk with a thunderous hit that cost Rempe an interference minor while costing TVR the rest of the game and maybe more:
Matt Rempe was called for interference on this hit against Trevor Van Riemsdyk pic.twitter.com/hg5XP2OAMX
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 26, 2024
Always sucks when a guy gets hurt - but guys can get hurt on clean hits which I think this was. You wanna call it a tick late, fine, I'm not gonna go crazy and argue even though I disagree. Hell, Tom Wilson hammered Zibanejad a couple times a lot later & wasn't called in Game 1. Whatever. Rempe's just always gonna draw more eyeballs because he's so big & strong and his hits are that much more of a spectacle. 95% of NHLers making that same hit won't drop a guy with such force where the ref feels compelled to make a call. It is what it is. Just always gonna be a fine line for Rempe to toe & make sure he uses his size to continue having the positive impact on games without hesitation while trying to avoid being on the wrong side of calls. And in fairness, Tom Wilson's "interference" soon after that was even worse of a penalty call. Even Will Cuylle's "boarding" in the third was a clean hit. Another F- game for stripes.
Doesn't matter though. At least for this series it doesn't. Rangers righties could switch sticks with the lefties and still come out on top over Washington. Caps never had a chance and now New York is just 60 minutes away from the Round 2 they were guaranteed as soon as their Round 1 opponent was announced.
Don't make it any longer than it needs to be. It ends Sunday night.
VIVA LA BLUESHIRTS!!!!