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Rangers looking for better execution, neutral zone play in Game 4
NEW YORK, N.Y. — The scoreline read 3-1 as the Pittsburgh Penguins took Game 3 against the New York Rangers following 60 minutes of suffocating hockey.
The Rangers finished with only 17 shots, making Matt Murray’s NHL playoff debut a fairly easy one. He wasn’t tested much, with the best Rangers chances shot directly into the logo on the Penguins netminder’s jersey.
Pittsburgh had 47 shot attempts to New York’s 33, with most of the Rangers’ coming from outside the high-danger areas in front of Murray.
(M: missed shot, S: saves, B: blocked shot)
According to Penguins defenseman Ben Lovejoy, keeping the Rangers’ shots to the perimeter was discussed ahead of Game 3 by making New York work for them and winning the neutral zone battle.
“I think we were smarter with our puck decisions,” Lovejoy said. “Our goal is to make their defense turn. We want to do everything we can to make life for their defensemen difficult. We were able to clean up our possession through the neutral zone and put pucks softly behind their D. By doing that we’re able to use our speed to our advantage and force them to come 200-feet to get shots.”
One thing the Rangers want and need to do more of in Game 4 is to win the neutral zone battle, thereby increasing their time in the Pittsburgh zone. Forward Eric Staal noted that the Penguins’ gameplan wasnt much different from Game 2 to Game 3, it was a matter of poor execution that did the Rangers in.
“I just think when we are going to get it deep we’ve got to do a better job of getting it back and that starts with being aggressive on our toes and then be smart with where you’ve got to be to create that offensive turnover,” Staal said. “They’re quickly just firing it back out, high flips off the glass or rim, so you’ve got to put it in an area where you can create a 50/50 battle to get the puck back, but then you’ve got to win that 50/50 battle and I think we’ve got to do a better job with that.”
Having the last change at home should benefit New York in getting the best matchups, but facing a team on the other end of the ice that has depth throughout their lineup it's going to continue to be difficult to generate Grade A chances. It just all goes back to finishing.
“We know what to expect from Pittsburgh as far as their play in the neutral zone and the type of forechecking they’re employing at this time," said Rangers coach Alain Vigneault. "We know what works to counter against that. We’ve got to go out there and make the plays and execute. Our execution wasn’t good enough [in Game 3].”
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
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