Strong second helps Rangers Sweep Czech Lightning

October 6, 2008   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

They were clearly the better team. However, Olaf Kolzig wasn’t cooperating holding his overmatched new Southeast club in the series rematch even getting a one-goal lead thanks to an Adam Hall redirect off a faceoff late in a first dominated by the Rangers.

Despite a 15-3 shots edge, Wade Redden’s new club trailed by a goal entering the second. With his team continuing to carry the play off a relentless forecheck, the former Senator defenseman notched the tying power play goal and later assisted on Scott Gomez’ winner in the Rangers’ second consecutive 2-1 win over the Lightning at a loud 17,000 packed O2 Arena in Prague Sunday. It allowed the Blueshirts to sweep the two-game 2008-09 opening series in the Czech Republic getting off to precisely the kind of start they preferred following a tough camp which saw them struggle during a hectic preseason schedule before sweeping a key two-game series in Bern, Switzerland which included the three-goal comeback over Metallsurg which might’ve been a turning point.

Before we go proclaiming that winning the Victoria Cup was like the propaganda coming from MSG, let’s remember that the Lightning didn’t play well in either game looking very weak defensively yet the Rangers came away with only four goals. That was mostly due to the stellar play of Kolzig (37 saves) and Mike Smith (39).

How bad were the Bolts in the first 40 minutes? At one point, the Rangers had 25 of the first 28 shots with only a remarkable Kolzig keeping them alive. The ex-Cap has always played well against Tom Renney’s club. So, I wasn’t too surprised by the former Vezina winner’s performance. He was outstanding. This easily could’ve been 7 or 8-1 before Barry Melrose’s club decided to play hockey in the third outshooting the Rangers 10-6 but unable to find the back of the net against Henrik Lundqvist, who stayed awake despite a lack of activity to finish with 18 saves.

Trailing by a goal, Redden notched his first goal as a Ranger taking a nifty feed from Markus Naslund in the slot one-timing the puck past Kolzig upstairs at 3:47. During the power play, they kept the puck in the whole time wearing out Lightning penalty killers before Gomez worked the puck to Naslund, who threaded the needle to a wide open Redden for his first.

The territorial control continued with a sharper Ranger team taking away the Bolts’ time and space. There weren’t many juicy turnovers like Saturday. Instead, they gave Tampa nothing and attacked with vigor using their improved speed to turn the match into an exciting track meet thrilling fans. At one point, the action became so rampant that the crowd gave their seal of approval midway through the contest. This was a much more fun game than the first with better flow and skating. It wasn’t as choppy.

Despite several brilliant stops by Kolzig, the Rangers kept coming and on another dominant shift where Tampa couldn’t get the puck out, they finally got the lead when a low Redden shot got through with Aaron Voros getting a piece of it leading to an open side for an easy slam dunk by Gomez for his first of the season at 12:12.

They pressed for more but couldn’t get anything else by Kolzig, who was like a brick wall robbing a couple of guys on the doorstep and diving across to deny Brandon Dubinsky’s one-timer.

After 40 minutes, SOG were a ridiculous 33-9 but all the Lightning had to do was play a good third and steal one period to possibly come away with points or even a win. They forechecked much better drawing three of their five power plays. Problem was the Ranger PK continued to be strong killing off all three finishing the series a perfect nine-for-nine with Renney using an assortment of forwards including rookie Lauri Korpikoski, who again looked solid centering the same third line flanked by energizers Ryan Callahan and Petr Prucha.

Unlike the opening game, I can’t think of anyone who didn’t play well with even the fourth line generating serious threats with Blair Betts and Colton Orr coming close on one shift. Dmitri Kalinin, who was very shaky in his first game as a Ranger was much better making smarter choices with and without the puck in logging over 20 minutes.

About the only thing the Blueshirts didn’t do well was faceoffs where Tampa controlled the circle finishing 29-and-17. Everything else was very satisfying if you bleed True Blue.

At worst, I wanted to come out with a split. Instead, a focused team came out with the best case scenario allowing them to capture all four points and get out of the gate quickly.

Now, they’ll have the next four-plus days to recover before an anticipated home opener this Friday versus the Blackhawks with a visit to expected conference power Philadelphia for a back-to-back the following day. That should be a good early test to see where this club is. It’s obviously different with more depth and speed plus a much needed North American style including more shots on the PP. A damn miracle!

There were no changes in the Ranger lineup with Renney opting to show loyalty to the group that won Saturday. Here were the lines:

Naslund-Gomez-Drury

Dawes-Dubinsky-Zherdev

Prucha-Korpikoski-Callahan

Voros-Betts-Orr

Redden-Rozsival

Kalinin-Girardi

Staal-Mara

Lundqvist

Valiquette

The Lightning made one change inserting 2004 fourth round pick Mike Lundin into the lineup on defense replacing Shane O’Brien.

Some quick hits:

-Steven Stamkos came close again to scoring this time ringing one off the bar with his team trailing by a goal in the second. He looks to be the real deal. Great skater. Excellent shot. Playmaking ability. Competes very hard. The 2008 No.1 overall selection will be exciting to follow.

-Vinny Lecavalier looked a little worn out due to not much of a camp though he did get one excellent opportunity off a broken play in the final 20 seconds but Lundqvist gave him zip forcing his backhand wide.

-Nigel Dawes was better in the second game strong on the puck creating chances off the forecheck and getting shots on net including a tricky backhander.

-Paul Mara had a very active game skating well and registering six shots in 18-plus minutes.

-Redden and Michal Rozsival thus far have good chemistry. They should get more tested later this week.

-There was one brief scrap between Voros and Ryan Malone with a quick takedown as both were off balance.

-The Rangers did a much better job keeping Martin St. Louis quiet without a shot.

-As Melrose pointed out afterwards, his best forwards were his cheapest line with Hall, Chris Gratton and Jussi Jokinen all playing well.

-Also impressive was Evgeny Artyukhin who got two shots on Lundqvist including one chance using improved speed to get in. He looks like a better player than a couple of years ago.

-Though he notched a helper on his team’s only tally, Andrej Meszaros passed up a couple of great opportunities to shoot on a PP opting to pass across instead. That had to drive Melrose nuts. Shoot the freaking puck! He’s got a good shot to begin with. They’re not paying the ex-Sen for passes but to use his potent shot. He played over 30 minutes registering just one.

Sens gain split behind Heatley and Auld: In the other opening series over at The Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, the Senators got even with the Penguins besting them 3-1 behind a pair of power play goals from Dany Heatley along with 30 saves from ex-Bruin Alex Auld.

Ottawa team captain and Swede Daniel Alfredsson tallied two assists. Antoine Vermette got an insurance marker with only Pens rookie D Alex Goligolski PPG with two seconds left foiling Auld’s shutout bid.

Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 24 saves.

The Sens came away with three of four points due to their OT defeat to the Pens a day earlier with Pittsburgh earning two.