It was about 30 seconds after Matt Rempe had sent the Garden into euphoria by scoring the first goal of the playoffs when Washington’s Vincent Iorio attempted to carry the puck out of the Caps’ end up the right side.
But that’s when the unfortunate Iorio ran into Alexis Lafreniere, who was on a puck-hunting expedition. Lafreniere buried the defenseman into the wall, picked up the loose puck while his foe lay prone and sent the puck to Vincent Trocheck who gave it to Artemi Panarin, who then beat Charlie Lindgren from the right dot for a 2-0 lead at 4:50 of the second.
It was the most notable hit of Lafreniere’s five that matched Jacob Trouba for the club lead in that category. It was a reminder of the way Lafreniere bolted out of the gate in his first playoff game against the Penguins two years ago.
It was also an indication of the way the Rangers expect — and can be expected — to approach the playoffs.
“I obviously expected that [physicality] from him and I expect it from everyone,” Panarin said after the Blueshirts’ 4-1 Game 1 victory over the Caps on Sunday afternoon. “It’s important we play physically and when he did just a good check and helped us to score, that was wonderful to see.”
There wasn’t a great deal of artistry to this one. Keeping artistry to a minimum is the Caps’ only hope to make this into a competitive series. They want to muddy the track. They want to disrupt flow. The more they can keep the game in tight spaces, the better their chance to pull an 8 vs. 1 upset.
Maybe that explains the opening 20 minutes in which the teams combined for three — one, two, three — shots at five-on-five. The Rangers probably deserved a medal for maintaining their interest during long stretches of nothingness as much as for maintaining their discipline and mindset as they did as the game evolved and the Caps were looking to stir things up.
“I mean obviously there’s a point in the game where, I don’t want to say they’re taking liberties, but they’re definitely coming a little harder there in the third period,” said K’Andre Miller, who impressed in a team-leading 21:10 of ice. “I think we played smart realizing there’s a long series in front of us, and a long postseason.”
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
The Blueshirts made the transition from the regular season reasonably well. They stuck with it when the Caps were able to clog it up. Their penalty kill was outstanding. They did not get frustrated when the officiating crew invented a new definition for “charging,” so they could penalize Rempe at 2:07 of the first, 34 seconds into No. 73’s first shift.
Essentially every NHL bench boss likes to think of himself as a four-line coach. Alain Vigneault always proudly proclaimed himself to be, even while his fourth-liners were the most surprised people in the building to learn that about their coach.
But Peter Laviolette is a four-line coach. He is now, at least. He is now after a Game 1 in which the Jimmy Vesey-Barclay Goodrow-Rempe unit scored twice and recorded an expected goal share of 74.45 percent in 6:45 of outsized important ice time.
For while Rempe got the first goal by converting Vesey’s spectacular touch centering pass after taking a relay below the goal line from Goodrow, it was Vesey who scored the 3-0 goal at 6:23 of the second with a drive from the right off a Goodrow right-circle faceoff win … while the Caps’ Beck Malestyn lay flat on his stomach after running into Rempe trying to get to Vesey.
Yes, Chris Kreider scored on a breakaway backhand to close the scoring, Panarin got a goal and Igor Shesterkin was sharp when things broke down a bit in front of him, but the Rangers’ fourth line dominated this one.
They got 11 shifts, five in the neutral zone and six in the offensive zone where the three forwards set a tone for their team. Rempe sets a tone off his Johnny Appleseed persona. The line sets a tone by its blue-collar ethos.
“I think we’re just trying to play a simple game, just trying to get pucks in, forecheck, be physical,” said Goodrow, who is made for this time of year. “We’re just trying to sustain play in the offensive zone and generate momentum for our team.”
The Blueshirts played methodically. They played with composure. They defended with strength. They played with the discipline of a No. 1 seed confronting an 8. They got the job done.
The Rangers Rempe’d ’em.