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The Rangers Game 1 matchups were a focal point for us, as it was going to give us some insight into the tactical strategy for Peter Laviolette. Given how poorly the last few coaches have fared in terms of in-game adjustments and overall tactical execution, this became a critical aspect of their game all season, emphasized in the playoffs.
Hockey tactics have evolved beyond basic systems, with each line on the Rangers expected to have a predefined role. We know the Rangers have scoring lines, shutdown lines, energy lines, and flexible defense pairs. How they were used was going to be a critical input into a long playoff run.
Rangers Game 1 matchups general strategies
When previewing the Rangers Game 1 matchups, there were some general strategies we expected from Peter Laviolette. The Caps have two scoring threats in the Alex Ovechkin line and the Dylan Strome line, but not much else. It made matchups easy to determine, as the Alex Wennberg line and Mika Zibanejad line would be doing the heavy defensive lifting.
Beyond defense, we also knew Laviolette would try to get the Artemi Panarin line away from Nic Dowd. The Dowd line isn’t that good, but they are still the strongest defensive line the Caps can throw out there, so putting Panarin in a position to succeed was important.
There were some other questions like defense pair matchups and zone starts that weren’t going to be answered until puck drop in Game 1.
Defensive load – Wennberg and Zibanejad
Note from Dave: Naturalstattrick.com is down and I can’t pull the shift chart. Once it’s back up, I will add it.
Heading into the series, the expected Rangers Game 1 matchups were Wennberg against Ovechkin and Zibanejad against Strome. That was exactly what happened, as the Strome lie was effectively shut down by the Zibanejad line and the Wennberg line completely dominated the Ovechkin line.
On defense, the newly formed K’Andre Miller-Braden Schneider pair was regularly matched up with the Zibanejad line against Dylan Strome. This was a little surprising given how ineffective defense pair matchups worked in previous games, but those were also with different defense pairs.
Going forward, expect Laviolette to run with the same strategy. Wennberg will continue to get Ovechkin, and the Zibanejad line with the Miller-Schneider pair will get Strome.
Artemi Panarin line gets lion’s share of offensive zone starts
As expected, the Artemi Panarin line was getting most of the offensive zone starts with no real matchup. It does appear that Laviolette was trying to get him away from the Dowd line, with varying degrees of success. Still, the Panarin line was fine. They got their chances and Panarin converted on one.
The fourth line got some offensive zone starts as well in favorable matchups, converting twice. That was a little unexpected, but given how they played and how they dominated, it was the right call.
On defense, the other newly formed pair of Erik Gustafsson-Jacob Trouba got most of starts in the offensive zone. Zone starts for the defense pairs were expected, and this was the pair that should have received most of the offensive zone starts.
Since the Rangers don’t really have a defense pair leaned on for offense, starting Gustafsson and Trouba there made the most sense to limit exposure to long defensive zone shifts. As we’ve seen, Trouba can no longer keep up with Peter Laviolette’s hybrid man/zone strategy, so this again was the right call.
Are there adjustments to be made?
The Rangers played an almost perfect game on Sunday afternoon. They had some rust, the refs interrupted the flow as they tried to shake off the rust, and they still dominated from start to finish.
The Rangers Game 1 matchups paid dividends. Unless something drastic changes, like Filip Chytil returning, expect Laviolette to run the same strategy until it is no longer effective.
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