The Battle of the Hudson is coming.
With the regular season behind them, the New York Rangers
and New Jersey Devils are locked into a first-round playoff matchup and a meeting
for the first time in the postseason since 2012. The teams each finished in the top 10 in the
league-wide standings and are headed for a dynamic clash.
Despite being the lower seed of the two, the Rangers are
more than capable of upsetting their cross-river rivals. Here are three factors
integral to the Rangers’ success in this matchup, which begins Tuesday at New Jersey.
I-gor! I-gor! I-gor!
In net for New York is the reigning Vezina Trophy winner,
Igor Shesterkin, the great equalizer. When the Rangers have defensive
breakdowns or give up odd-man rushes, Shesterkin is there to erase them.
After a historic 2021-22 season, the 27-year-old stumbled a bit by his
standards earlier this season but has played well recently, finishing the season
with a 2.48 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage. Even with his
struggles against Pittsburgh in last year’s postseason, Shesterkin has proven he has a short memory and can handle the pressure of the postseason in New
York.
Get production from third line
Third lines have been crucial to past Stanley Cup winners – most
recently the Tampa Bay Lightning – and the Rangers have one that can be a
matchup problem: 2017 No. 21 overall pick Filip Chytil, 2019 No. 2 overall
pick Kaapo Kakko and 2020 No. 1 overall pick Alexis Lafrenière.
New
York’s top prospects have graduated from the “Kid Line” moniker and developed palpable
chemistry, with each player setting career highs in multiple offensive
categories. With all the talent on the roster, this trio
is relegated to the third line. But that will give them advantageous matchups, and if they can provide secondary and tertiary scoring, the Rangers will
thrive.
Play lights-out on road
The Devils will start with home-ice advantage, but that may not be easy to hold onto.
The Rangers had the seventh-best road
record this season, picking up 24 of their 47 wins and only losing nine times
in regulation. There is also the benefit of proximity. Rangers fans travel
well, especially when the away arena (Prudential Center) is a short train ride away. There
are sure to be plenty of red, white and blue jerseys in the crowd in Newark.
The Devils are also a great road team, so the Rangers need to defend their
home ice, but with the first two games on the road, New York could jump to
an early lead.