Rangers take advantage of special teams in Game 1

The opening game of the second round in these Stanley Cup Playoffs saw the league’s best team during the regular season play a special game.

The President’s Trophy-winning New York Rangers set the tone in Game 1 of the Metropolitan Division Final by beating the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3. Two of the Rangers’ goals came on the power play, as one of Mika Zibanejad’s two goals, along with a marker from Vincent Trochek, came on the man advantage.

The Blueshirts’ work on the defensive side was also impressive, as they killed off five penalties—granted, one of the Hurricanes’ chances was negated due to a penalty. Nevertheless, in a rare playoff game with several power plays, the Rangers won the special teams battle. If that trend continues throughout the series, that is going to give New York a hefty advantage against Carolina.

On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Colby Cohen and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss what made the Rangers’ efforts on Sunday so successful.

Colby Cohen: [The Rangers] got out hot, and they started with their hair on fire. Both teams had a little bit of a layoff, so I was not expecting that kind of start. Give the Rangers a lot of credit…they’re power play puck movement, they had that one goal where they moved the puck three times through the box, and not one player stickhandled.

Under-handling the puck, breaking the box, shooting off of a one-timer situation, these are all major recipes to success. The Rangers hung on, I don’t think they dominated the game 5-on-5, but they win that special teams game and win Game 1 of that series. I think we’re going to see seven phenomenal games in that Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes series.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode…