I had a feeling the first game was going to go down like this. Fast, very aggressive, a stupid amount of penalties (14).

Also not surprising, the Rangers taking the entire first period to realize they are playing a hockey game. Everything felt off with terrible passing, and an offense that couldn’t get anything started. That left everything to the defense to save every botched push.

It got better in the second period with improved passing and communication. Carolina always looked one step ahead though, most of the game it felt like the Rangers were trying to catch up (which was true on the score board).

Shesterkin didn’t start in net, which was a surprise. The bigger surprise is that he was listed as “unfit to play” which is the official title for any kind of illness or injury (the league says no one has tested positive for COVID). Georgiev was the backup. Hank locked it down despite the 3-2 score. The first one was the only one I consider legit. The shot hit his right shoulder and flipped over and in. He could have/should have stopped it. The second was a redirection in a pack of players, it was impossible to see. The third bounced off of Staal’s skate as he was trying to defend–it went through Hank’s legs as he was playing the shot as it was coming in. There was nothing he could do. Staal did make up for it by scoring a goal (I think his third of the season).

It could have gone to overtime. The Rangers could have won in regulation. 1-7 on the power play for Carolina and 0-7 for the Rangers. That can’t happen again. All those opportunities missed (4 of those power plays, Carolina had no problem defending) and being on the penalty kill that many times is too much stress and exertion to go through.

Adjustments will be made for Game 2 on Monday. I’m not too worried as I expected this series to be very close and nothing too alarming happened today. If they can put a stop to their season long curse of having terrible first periods, it’ll make a big difference. You can’t give a team a 20 minute advantage in a series that only takes 3 hours to get knocked out of.