You could feel the heat rising with every word that came out of Alain Vigneault’s mouth during the coach’s press briefing following the Rangers’ practice on Friday.
Fourteen hours after his team’s last 1.3-seconds Game 1 defeat to the Capitals, Vigneault’s anger was palpable, his normally calm, light, buttoned-down demeanor escalating into a series of verbal challenges thrown at his team to be better, sharper and more aware for Saturday’s Game 2.
Play to the end, urged the coach, whose constant message of whistle-to-whistle did not translate on Thursday, when the Rangers fatally decided to play whistle-to-red light on the winning/losing sequence.
Be better against the Nicklas Backstrom-Alex Ovechkin-Joel Ward line, demanded Vigneault, who called the number of “good looks” generated by that unit “unreal.”
Get more involved in the offense, the coach instructed his defense. Finish your scoring chances, he prodded his team, which has recorded two goals or fewer in five of six playoff games, getting one in the first 60 minutes of each of the last three matches, a number Vigneault said “Won’t cut it.”
It is not a race to one, it is a race to four — as in, four victories to win a best-of-seven. The challenge for the Rangers, though, is to create races against the Caps. The challenge is to make Washington play in open ice. The challenge is greater than getting Rick Nash and Marty St. Louis more ubiquitous on the score sheet.
The challenge for the Rangers is to make the Caps play their game, when Washington’s grinding game (much like Pittsburgh’s in round one) is probably more intrinsically suited to the grind of the playoffs than the Blueshirts’ get-it-and-go-go-go methodology.
“There’s less space for sure, but it’s expected,” St. Louis said. “It looks like more of a grind, but that’s the way it should be. You have to be prepared for that, and we are, but within that context, you also have to be able to make plays and take what’s given to you.
“It’s a fine line for the offensive guys,” said No. 26, who has yet to score in the playoffs after recording seven goals in his final 35 regular-season matches. “You don’t want to turn it over trying to be creative, so you become more cautious and make fewer plays in open ice.
“Each guy has to find the line for that balance between being responsible and creative. For me, I thought I was closer to where I needed to be [in Game 1] than in the Pittsburgh series, but not consistently enough.”
Mats Zuccarello is both the Rangers’ most ornery forward and the one most likely to get to the net on a consistent basis. If his absence is enough to derail this team, then the Blueshirts weren’t good enough or deep enough to begin with. Losing Zuccarello cannot be an excuse for losing this series.
The Rangers need to develop a greater shot-mentality. They need to get to the net and create some chaos in front of Braden Holtby. Oh, by the way, that five-year, $27.5 million contract Brooks Orpik signed as a free agent last summer might not look so good another two or three seasons down the road, but the stay-at-home defenseman was an integral part of Washington’s Game 1 victory, dominating his match against the Nash-St. Louis-Derick Brassard unit, which came up empty.
There’s a difference between Nash playing extremely well while not scoring and Nash not scoring while playing poorly. Thursday, Nash had one of his poorest games since the Oct. 9 puck-drop on the regular season. It wasn’t close to good enough. Nobody required Mike Milbury’s puerile trash-talk on television to illuminate that.
“We have to work for our scoring chances,” said No. 61, who has one goal in the tournament after scoring five goals in his final 22 regular-season matches. “There were a lot from the outside. They like to box out and step up to block shots early, so it’s a matter of winning battles.”
It’s a matter of the Rangers making quick decisions and quick passes that can open up the neutral zone against a big-bodied Caps team that is a handful on the forecheck. It’s a matter of the Blueshirts being able to capitalize on their advantage in speed that barely materialized in Game 1.
The Rangers are not in a crisis mode. For them, a series probably doesn’t start until they lose one on the road. But the Blueshirts need to be better in order to avoid losing the first two at home.
The challenge is to force a team that wants to play slow-down half-court (except when Ovechkin and Backstrom are on) into playing up-tempo full-court. The challenge is to make the Caps play Rangers’ hockey.
But that’s not only a challenge.
It is the mandate.