NEW YORK – Game seven between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers was a test of wills. It was also a test of the personalities of the two clubs’ head coaches. Dale Hunter and John Tortorella are intense bench bosses and both have stamped that intensity on their rosters.
For the Rangers on Saturday night, it was about speed and getting quick shots on net to prevent the Caps from blocking shots in front of Braden Holtby in the Caps nets.
For Tortorella, that meant getting his top line of Brad Richards, Marian Gaborik and Carl Hagelin on the ice as often as possible.
“We doubled them up right away,” Tortorella said. “With Ritchie, we talked about him shooting the puck right away and not hesitating. They block shots very well and we needed to try to get more shots through. The first goal of the game was a very important goal. Hags doesn’t end up with many points, but he ends up with a couple tonight. He’s been very good this series as far as chasing down pucks and I thought that was key tonight. Gaby was skating tonight, so to get a lead against that team is very important.”
Hagelin’s speed paid dividends on chasing the puck down in the far corner skating it behind the net and finding Richards for a one-timer from the circle.
The game winner came off a speed move in the third period.
Michael Del Zotto had knocked Alex Ovechkin to the ice as he tried to carry the puck into the offensive zone along the far boards. He pushed the puck up the boards to Gaborik who skated to the Caps zone and to the high slot where he took a shot that was blocked down.
Del Zotto had skated from his defensive position to the trailing player on the rush and gathered up the puck and put it on net with a wrist shot that beat Holtby.
“He’s probably been our most consistent at joining the rush,” Tortorella said of Del Zotto. “He shoots the puck wide a lot, didn’t on this one and scored. He has gone through quite a process here, from last year into what he’s doing for us this year. He’s been very consistent both offensively and defensively.”
Del Zotto ended the game with a goal and an assist and was plus one on the night.
Just 38 seconds after the Del Zotto goal Roman Hamrlik put a knuckleball on net that completely eluded Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist. The goal came at 10:43 of the third period.
For the next six minutes, the Caps dominated play and threw whatever they could at the New York cage.
“They caught us a couple times with long shifts and we just ended up collapsing and hoping for a save or we get the puck out and try not to get hurt,” said Rangers defenseman Marc Staal, who was trapped on the ice for nearly three minutes. “They kind of got some momentum off of that but we did our best job to not let that hurt us.”
In the end, Lundqvist made the spectacular and ordinary saves that pushed the Rangers into the Eastern Conference Finals.
A recent online discussion described the Rangers as “giving the other team hope, only to rip it away”.
The Rangers now face the New Jersey Devils for the right to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Contact LM.Davis@prohockeynews.com
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