New York Rangers: Main keys to taking Game 1 against Hurricanes

Clean transition game

If you read all the previews for this game, then it becomes pretty clear that the major factor in this series will be if the Rangers can figure out a way to beat Carolina’s crippling forechecking game that completely smothers opponents and shuts down their game-plan.

They are aggressive, they play with speed and they will look to get the puck in the offensive zone early and often as quick as they possibly can.

If Carolina is allowed to play its game from the drop of the puck in Game One, that could cause huge problems for the Rangers who struggled with the transition game at times in Round One against the Penguins.

However, as we saw in the first period of Game One, when Gerard Gallant’s team are at their best, they are one of the best transition teams in the league, they can get the puck over the blue line and out of the zone quickly, they can create odd-man rushes and they are hard to hang with when they play with speed and are aggressive.

Plus, with Igor Shesterkin able to come out and make huge plays with the stick as he did in Game Six, the Rangers have the pieces and the ability to be able to get out of the zone quickly and cleanly and if they can sustain what they did in for the first 20 minutes of Game One against the Penguins for an entire game, they will be able to beat Carolina’s suffocating forecheck.