New York Rangers Have Figured it out at the Garden

After losing six straight playoff games at home, the New York Rangers seem to have figured out what it takes to win in their own building.

Game three was a very bleak one for the New York Rangers. The team was outshot 29 to 21 in the game and only managed 14 shots through the first 52 minutes of action.

At that point, many Rangers fans gave up hope in the series due to the Rangers’ recent ineptitude at the Garden. After all, they had a six-game losing streak at home in the playoffs and were outscored 21-4 in said games. This was coupled with a 21-16-4 home record in the regular season which was less than stellar as well.

But come game four, the Rangers had it all figured out.

The Rangers outshot, outhit, outwitted and most important, outscored the Canadiens in the fourth tilt of the series by a score of 2-1. Their speed game was working to a tee and the implementation of Pavel Buchnevich to their lineup made them go.

In fact, Buchnevich entering the lineup was the turning point in the series. Tanner Glass, who he came in for, was having a great series, but his style of play doesn’t fit the Rangers system. The Rangers need to push the pace and outskate the other team to be as effective as possible. For seven of the nine periods to follow, the Rangers showed this to be true.

When the Rangers are using their speed and creating high danger chances at the clip that they have been, they are tough to stop. When Henrik Lundqvist plays the way he did for six straight games, there is no stopping this team.

The Crowd Goes Wild

I have had this long-lasting debate with many people in the hockey universe, but I firmly believe that the crowd plays a role in a game. I think most players would tell you this and if you played a sport or played in concerts or anything like that, you would understand too.

It’s like this; I used to be in theater at my college during my freshman year. I remember some nights where the crowd was very lively and they were the nights where we all stepped up our performance. I’ve also been out there for nights where the crowd was dull and boring. We didn’t do bad, but we didn’t have nearly the same amount of energy as usual.

This isn’t to say that the crowd determines who wins a hockey game, but the crowd is like the home team’s cup of coffee. It’s energy gives the players on the team a little bit of an extra jump and a bit more motivation to succeed.

Coupling the Rangers’ game three performance with the crowd’s game three performance was a bad combination, but the Blueshirts faithful were loud and proud in games four and six and it gave their team an extra jump out there.

Next: Rangers Lines and How They are Performing

For the past couple of years, the Garden was not a scary place for the opposition to play, but a scary place for the home team to play. It appears that the Rangers may have found a way to flip the switch at the Garden, just like they did overall since the regular season, and it has paid off big time.