Home Analysis Game 1 Recap – 3 Stars, Highlights, Presser: Habs Unprepared to Handle Rangers

Game 1 Recap – 3 Stars, Highlights, Presser: Habs Unprepared to Handle Rangers

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Game 1 Recap – 3 Stars, Highlights, Presser: Habs Unprepared to Handle Rangers
(Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images)

Montreal Canadiens Playoffs  Game 12  Home game 6  |  Saturday May 17, 2014 | Rangers lead third round series 1-0

(Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images)
(Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images)

 Game Recap:

The Canadiens were ill-prepared to face the speed and intensity of the Rangers. While New York coach Alain Vigneault said that he had spent hours looking over tape of the Canadiens two previous series looking for weaknesses to exploit, it was not evident that the Montreal coaching staff had developed schemes to help their players slow down the Rangers. The Habs trailed early and never mounted a serious threat. The major concern going into Game 2 is the health of Carey Price.

Plus / Minus

▲   Carey Price, Lars Eller

▼   Rene Bourque, Michael Bournival, Thomas Vanek, Nathan Beaulieu, David Desharnais, Mike Weaver

teamlogo_canadiens teamlogo_rangers

2

7

Boxscore:

 FINAL 1 2 3 T
 Canadiens 0 1 1 2
 Rangers 2 2 3 7

Summary:
Goal Scorers:
MTL  Bourque(5), Eller(5)
NYR   St. Louis(4), Zuccarello(4), Kreider(2), Richards(5), McDonagh(2), Stepan(3), Nash(1)
Goalies:
MTL Price (L)  8-4-1, Budaj
NYR Lundqvist (W) 9-6-0
aagamerecap

Shots on Goal:

 FINAL 1 2 3 T
 Canadiens 6 10 6 22
 Rangers 12 8 8 28

 NHL Three Stars
NHL3stars
  1. Martin St. Louis  NYR 
  2. Henrik Lundqvist  NYR
  3. Chris Kreider  NYR
MartinStLouis-POTW

 Post-game Press Conference

186237429_slideHead coach Michel Therrien

  • “You never want to lose a game, but it’s going to bring us to get back on earth.  We, as a group, have to be ready to compete and ready to play every night if we want to have a chance to win. So we put that game behind us, gonna move forward, but that’s a good lesson.”
  • “We were not ready mentally, physically to compete for a game like that with the result that we saw.”
  • “The fact that [Carey Price] didn’t play in the third period, that was more to protect him than anything because we were not sharp in front of him.”
  • On Chris Kreider crashing into Carey Price, “I think it was accidental, honestly.”
  • “This is a good hockey team. They just beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, that’s one of the best teams in the league too. But we didn’t play our game. We didn’t give ourselves a chance to win the hockey game. So we have to regroup and make sure next game that we were gonna to compete a lot harder and more alert.”

Captain Brian Gionta

  • “[Carey Price] has been the backbone of this team, he’s given us a chance to win every night.  When he goes down like that, for sure it’s scary. We’ve got some time now and hopefully he’ll be ready.”

Forward Rene Bourque

  • “We got our asses kicked all over the ice. There’s really no other way to explain it.”

Rangers forward Derek Brassard

  • “It’s nothing serious, I’m day-to-day. Hopefully I’ll be ready to play on Monday.”

alain-vigneaultflipRangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist

  • “Last time I played here, we had a different team, and I think I’ve grown as a goalie as well. But every time you play the game you have to show yourself and your teammates that you can play. So, yeah, we got a great start here and a good win, but it’s about doing it again in the next one.”

Rangers defenseman Marc Staal

  • “We’re not surprised in the way we played. We had a great start to the game, set the tempo right from the beginning, and were able to convert on a couple, which is big in a road rink, especially here. We were able to carry that through.”

Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh

  • “We’re feeling good that we got a good start to the series. For us, we can’t fall into the trap here. This is a real good team and there’s going to be a real big game coming up (Monday) and they’ll be feeding off their crowd, so we’re gonna have to be ready.”

Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault

  • “This is a fun building to play in, it’s got history, the fans are passionate, they’re loud. Maybe the fact that in Canada, hockey is Saturday night not Saturday afternoon. Maybe we caught them at a moment they weren’t used to it. We were able to jump on that a little bit.
  • “[Dominic Moore] did an unreal job. To lose [Derek Brassard] right away on his second shift, put our rotation and our lines out of whack. [Moore] stepped in, and there is another player on our team that we all know his story. He’s handled his personal situation and his professional situation in a great way.”
  • “Our guys know that we are up against a real good team, that has beat the best team in the NHL so we know that we have our hands full. Tonight in the second period, the difference was our goaltender. He made some big saves. You could see that they were pushing. And then when you score a couple of goals late in the period, we just got a little bit fortunate there and took it home in the third.”

To look back at the full lineups for tonight’s game, check the Game Day preview.


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