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New York Rangers’ Offense vs. Braden Holtby (Video)

By Steven Carollo

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With the New York Rangers’ struggles to score goals in Round 1, they must throw everything at Washington Capitals’ goaltender, Braden Holtby, in Round 2.

New York Rangers
New York Rangers /

New York Rangers

The New York Rangers may have advanced past the 1st round of the playoffs, and did so by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in 5 games, however, their offense was not that impressive and needs to improve if the Rangers want to keep advancing.

In their 5 games vs. the Penguins in Round 1, the Rangers scored a total of only 11 goals in 5 games while setting an NHL record of being the 1st ever team to win a series with all 4 wins ending in 2-1 final scores.

Now granted, the playoffs are much tighter than the regular season but, with that being said, in today’s NHL you still need to score more per game if you expect to win in the postseason.

In Round 2, which starts on Thursday, the Rangers will be facing the
Washington Capitals and their starting goaltender, Braden Holtby.

Now if you watched the Capitals 1st round series, where they defeated the
New York Islanders in 7 games, Holtby looked very shaky at times throughout the series, struggling to catch the puck, trap the puck, and even get in position.

The Rangers’ strategy to begin with should be to throw everything at the net but with the way Holtby has looked so far this postseason, this strategy should especially be followed literally word for word.  I mean take a look below at the goal Holtby gave up in Game 7 vs. the Islanders that would have probably made him the goat if the Capitals ended up losing that game and the series.

That is the perfect example as to why the Rangers must test Holtby and consistently pepper him with shots.

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With the Capitals’ offensive weapons, especially
Alexander Ovechkin, who always seems to score against the Rangers every time the two teams face each other, I just do not see any way the Rangers can win this series if they only score 2 goals per game like they did in the 1st round vs. the Penguins.

But if the Rangers put the puck towards the net at every chance they get, and Holtby plays like he did in Round 1 vs. the Islanders, those goal numbers and the chances to win this series should increase for the Rangers.

All in all, this series can go either way, but in my mind, the matchup of the Rangers’ offense vs. Braden Holtby will be the deciding factor of which team wins this series.

Next: Martin St. Louis Must Step Up For New York Rangers In Round Two

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