They started the game setting the ice ablaze. They were all over the ice and controlled most of the first period while peppering Martin Brodeur with 8 shots.
After the first intermission, the Devils came out and owned most of the second. The Rangers looked like a very fatigued group while giving every ounce of energy they had. Things looked even more bleak at the 17:15 mark of the period when Brandon Prust took an unexcused roughing penalty. While never giving up, looking gassed and desperate for rest, they got through the remaining 2:45 of the period unscathed.
Then came the intermission. Of course we'll never know what was said in the locker room between periods because, as you know, John Tortorella is not a man of words with the media. But you have to wonder if it was simply the 20 minutes of much-needed rest that the team needed.
53 seconds into the third, the Rangers took the lead for the remainder of the night. On the power play (go figure), boy wonder Chris Kreider possessed the puck along the boards so patiently as he was hounded by two Devils penalty killers. He then found an undetected Dan Girardi fresh on the ice after a change who blasted home a one-timer that ended up being the game-winning goal.
The goal for Girardi was a huge one as he was having a very unGirardi-like game. In the first, he tried to pinch on the blue line to prevent a Devils scoring chance and he was beaten badly by Zach Parise. Ryan McDonagh made a tremendous play getting back on defense stopping Parise on the breakaway without taking a penalty.
In said wretched second period, Girardi was behind his own net and tried to flick the puck up the ice over Dainius Zubrus in front of the net. The puck ricocheted off Zubrus and was nearly tapped in for the series' first goal.
The goal by Girardi set the tone for the remainder of the period and the Rangers owned it in its entirety. Kreider tacked on the 2nd goal on the power play and Artem Anisimov closed the book with an empty netter for a 3-0 victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final.
A complete victory all around for the Rangers stamped with the second postseason shutout for NHL MVP nominee Lundqvist. Seven more to go to hoist Lord Stanley's Cup. I can't believe I'm saying that.
