The wild-card New York Rangers are fresh off bouncing the Atlantic Division-leading Montreal Canadiens in six games, and the Ottawa Senators just got through a series against Boston that couldn’t really have been closer — four of the six games went to overtime, and a single goal decided each.
At the top of the Rangers leaderboard is a familiar face for Senators fans: Mika Zibanejad’s goal and three assists has him leading New York this post-season after an up-and-down, injury-filled first year in The Big Apple. The comparisons will be plentiful in this series, as Derick Brassard, whom the Rangers dealt to Ottawa in exchange for Zibanejad, also leads his team after Round 1.
This series should be close, low-scoring and plenty physical, featuring two hungry teams. One hasn’t had a ton of playoff success (Ottawa), and the other recently come oh so close to winning it all (New York, the runner-up in 2014).
Here’s how these two teams match up in their second-round series.
BROADCAST SCHEDULE
Game 1 — New York at Ottawa: Thursday, April 27 at 7 p.m. on CBC
Game 2 — New York at Ottawa: Saturday, April 29 at 3 p.m. on CBC
Game 3 — Ottawa at New York: Tuesday, May 2 at 7 p.m. on CBC
Game 4 — Ottawa at New York: Thursday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m. on CBC
Game 5* — New York at Ottawa: Saturday, May 6, TBD
Game 6* — Ottawa at New York: Tuesday, May 9, TBD
Game 7* — New York at Ottawa: Thursday, May 11, TBD
ADVANCED STATS (regular season):
Ottawa: 48.43 5on5 CF% (22nd), .927 5on5 Sv% (7th), 7.02 5on5 Sh% (22nd), 99.74 PDO (18th)
NY Rangers: 47.96 5on5 CF% (26th), .923 5on5 Sv% (17th), 8.82 5on5 Sh% (3rd), 101.13 PDO (6th)
TEAM STATS (regular season):
Ottawa: 17 PP% (23rd), 79.7 PK% (22nd), 206 GF (22nd), 210 GA (10th)
NY Rangers: 19.8 PP% (12th), 79.8 PK% (21st), 253 GF (4th), 216 GA (12th)
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD
Ottawa: 2-1-0
NY Rangers: 1-2-0
Round 1 Strengths for Ottawa: Captain Erik Karlsson revealed he has two hairline fractures in his left heel, and yet the defenceman was still the best player on the ice most nights in the first round. Karlsson had six assists, and his most spectacular — from just in front of the Senators goal-line, onto the stick of Mike Hoffman, at the far blue line — was filthy.
A pair of forwards have turned it right up. Brassard — who had 0.48 points per game in the regular season — had eight points in the first round (1.33 points per game), second-best in the playoffs. And Bobby Ryan has been huge just when the team needs him to be. After struggling mightily in the regular season (Ryan had just 25 points in 62 games), the winger had four goals in the first round, including three game-winners, and an assist on the series clincher.
Round 1 Strengths for New York: The Canadiens struggled to get things going offensively, and when they did, they ran into Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers netminder stepped up in Round 1 in a big way, silencing critics who suggested King Henrik’s best days might be behind him.
By the end of Round 1, Lundqvist made a total of 195 saves (second behind Washington’s Braden Holtby) and earned himself a 1.70 goals-against average to go with an impressive .947 save percentage. He let in just 11 goals through six games.
Round 1 Weakness for Ottawa: The Senators aren’t exactly experts at holding on to leads. As Clarke MacArthur put it after he scored the series-clinching goal, “No lead is safe.” Take Game 3, for example. The Senators were up 3-0 early in the second period, and then gave up three straight, though they eventually won in overtime. But it was like a broken record after games, listening to players say they hadn’t yet put together a full 60 minutes. They’ll need to fix that to have a chance against the Rangers.
Round 1 Weakness for New York: Try as they might, the Rangers simply couldn’t get their power play rolling in Round 1. The club scored just once in 14 opportunities, with the lone PP marker coming in Game 6 off the stick of Mats Zuccarello.
They closed out Round 1 tied with the Blues for worst power-play percentage, at 6.7 per cent.
Turns out, this is becoming a bit of a trend in New York. As we pointed out in our Round 1 preview, the Rangers power play went cold in the first round of the 2016 playoffs, going just 1-for-16. We’ve seen how much special teams can sway a series, and the Rangers will have to get something going with the man advantage if they want to get past the Senators.
Senators X-Factor: Assuming Karlsson can continue to play well despite being injured, it’s going to be goalie Craig Anderson. He was at times dominant against Boston, holding 39 goal-scorer Brad Marchand to just one goal. With Lundqvist at the other end, Anderson — who also had a shutout in Round 1 — is going to have his work cut out for him against a deep offensive unit in New York, and he’ll have to be at his best.
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Rangers X-Factor: The Rangers finished in the middle of the pack in terms of goals scored per game (2.33) and showed off their offensive depth by serving up a diverse attack. All but two Rangers skaters recorded at least one point in Round 1, and while that varied attack could push Ottawa to its limits in Round 2, there are a few concerns when it comes to certain Rangers’ post-season production.
Chris Kreider led the team in goals (28) during the regular season, but has just one assist during this post-season. The same goes for J.T. Miller, whose 22 goals and 56 points had him just below Zuccarello for the team’s scoring lead. Derek Stepan was just one point behind Miller through the regular season and now has two points (1G, 1A) through six playoff games.
If Kreider & Co. can find their post-season game, that could change the face of this series.
PLAYOFF TEAM LEADERS (G-A-PTS)
Ottawa: Derick Brassard (2-6-8), Bobby Ryan (4-3-7), Erik Karlsson (0-6-6), Mike Hoffman (2-1-3), Dion Phaneuf (1-2-3)
NY Rangers: Mika Zibanejad (1-3-4), Mats Zuccarello (3-0-3), Rick Nash/Jesper Fast (2-1-3)
