This is something the Rangers aren’t used to — a postseason layoff, a time to rest and recover and allow their next opponent to slug it out while they try to get themselves healthier.
As a result of Friday night’s fourth 2-1 victory over the Penguins, the Blueshirts had taken their first-round series in five games and earned themselves two days off, which will end with an optional practice on Monday afternoon. It will be a practice still without a second-round opponent determined, with the Islanders and Capitals set to play Game 7 of their series, in Washington, later that night.
“It’s another tight series and two very good hockey teams,” alternate captain Marc Staal said on Friday night, his team having taken a playoff series in fewer than six games for the first time since the opening round of 2008 against the Devils, a span of 12 series, seven of them resulting in wins. “So pick your poison there.”
The Isles and Caps have played a rugged series, one that boiled over with a contentious kerfuffle following the final buzzer on Saturday afternoon, when the Islanders won, 3-1, to extend the series and possibly extend their tenancy at the Coliseum. With this being their final year on Long Island before next season’s move to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, it’s impossible not to look ahead and wonder how outrageous a Rangers-Islanders series would be in that atmospheric din.
But for now, the Rangers have a chance to catch their breath, and they hope to see some bumps and bruises ease off in their potency.
“We have a couple of guys that need a couple days to recover and take care of some stuff,” goalie Henrik Lundqvist said. “I think it’s huge for us, to regroup a little bit and come ready for the second round.”
There is a question about the availability of diminutive Norwegian winger Mats Zuccarello, who was hit in the head with a Ryan McDonagh slap shot late in the first period of Game 5 and didn’t return. Coach Alain Vigneault had said after the game that someone told him Zuccarello was “all right,” but that the evaluation process was still ongoing. If he can’t play, the only extra forward on the roster is James Sheppard, a trade-deadline pickup who has been steady in the 14 games he played for the Rangers this season.
With the next series likely starting Wednesday or Thursday — and with Eric Clapton booked in the Garden on Friday and Saturday nights — there also will be some time for defenseman Kevin Klein to practice with the team, as he is attempting to come back from his broken left arm, suffered on March 11 and taking quite a while to heal.
“We’ll take the next couple days here to recuperate and recover,” Vigneault said, “and we’ll get right back to strategizing for the next series and getting ready.”
The good news for the Rangers is they have shown a reliable amount of depth. The game that just-turned-22-year-old J.T. Miller put on the ice in Game 5 was impressive, with offensive vision, play-making, and physicality all rolled into one.
“Millsy was a beast,” said his centerman, Derek Stepan.
Whether it’s the Islanders or Capitals, the Rangers are readying themselves for what surely will be a physical battle in the second round. The Islanders would be playing with overwhelming emotion — as well as overwhelming captain John Tavares, often willing his team to victories like creating the game-winning goal on Saturday by taking a monstrous hit from Alex Ovechkin. Meanwhile, Washington just happens to be the heaviest team in the league by body-weight standards, and has one skilled line and three that forecheck as hard as any in the league.
“We pay attention a pretty good amount,” Miller said. “They have a good series going on right now, so we’ll be prepared.”