Larague: In the playoffs, if you want to hurt a team in the long run, you have to hit every shift.

 Andrew Cross, Rangers Rants, Apr. 16, 2009:

Left wing Fredrik Sjostrom said he was fine today after taking a healthy second-period hit from Capitals defenseman Mike Green in Game 1. Sjostrom said he had the wind knocked out of him and there were no head/concussion issues. He said he had no headaches or anything of that nature today.

Capitals 2nd goal, this is how Caps should beat Lundquist. He seems to be average on moving from post to post. In any case it is tough for any goaltender. He is well prepared for Ovechkin's or Green's shots though.

Also interesting from Tortorella, his breakdown of the Capitals second goal, Viktor Kozlov's deflection of Nicklas Backstrom's pass from the left with 48.9 seconds remaining in the second period.

"We screwed up off the faceoff, we don't trap," Tortorella said. "Scott Gomez goes off the faceoff, which he shouldn't have done. Our winger should be going. Right from the drop of the puck we foul that up. Sean (Avery) ends up taking Ovechkin on the entry. It ends up being a two-on-two and we get beat to the net. Danny (Girardi) had his stick on the puck before he made that pass. Backstrom just reached a llittle bit more and made that pass. We can't allow Kozlov to go through our D. That's just young kids (Staal and Girardi) fighting their way through it."

Laich did a good job of screening Lundquist, but it was not enough.

Here's my suggestion:

Put Ovie in front of the net. It would create so much traffic one could only imagine because two defensemen would be on him. And then shoot the puck low, you don't even have to shoot hard, Ovie will pick up the rebounds. That would be very unorthodox and a big surprise for Rags.

And hit 'em hard, it's gonna be a long series.

Update:

NY Sports Daily, Apr. 16, 2009 "Rangers Able to Steal Game 1":

… The game was physical with both teams finishing checks including some bone crushers from Ovechkin and crunchers from Callahan. Still, it was Matt Bradley who got the best hit catching Mara with a clean shoulder. The Rangers won the physical battle outhitting the Caps 35-27 with five registering three and at least 11 getting two. Even Wade Redden delivered three playing a solid 31 shifts (27:35) going plus-one while partner Rozsival had a pair logging the second most minutes (28:15). Predictably, Green paced all skaters with 30:47 including nearly 11:30 of PP time. He also had three hits. Ovechkin led the Caps with half a dozen while Erskine added five.

Green's hit was as good as Bradley's, if not better.

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