The Rangers probably know better than anyone that playoff experience doesn’t necessarily equate to playoff success.
Just two years ago, the Blueshirts entered the postseason in a situation similar to how this season’s first-round opponent, the Capitals, made it to this year’s playoffs. Not qualifying for the playoffs as a team was a factor in the Rangers’ elimination, but the Rangers ultimately proved everyone wrong with a captivating and unexpected run to the Eastern Conference Finals. .
So, despite playing convincingly in Game 1 against a team that featured six players making their postseason debuts on Sunday, and Washington coach Spencer Carberry, the Rangers’ individual I know from experience that someone doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the team. other.
Experience is only meaningful if you learn from it and apply it.
“I think it will be helpful,” head coach Peter Laviolette said Monday of the playoff experience after an optional practice at the MSG Training Center. “You have guys that don’t have experience, and they have to break out at some point and have success in the playoffs. I think sometimes experience helps, but it’s not the be-all and end-all.”
Not counting the bizarre bubble playoffs of 2020 (which I don’t count), the Rangers had 12 players who got their first taste of real postseason hockey in 2022. Nine of them are still on the team.
It can’t be overstated how many different playoff situations this Rangers mainstay has been through in a short period of time.
It all has to mean something — emphasis on the word “should” — but only if the Rangers can implement what they’ve learned.
They learned from the 2022 Penguins that it’s not over until it’s over after the Rangers rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to win.
The 2022 Lightning team taught us that if we don’t kill a team at the first opportunity, all can be lost. Such was the case in the conference finals series when the Rangers took a 2-0 series lead and went up 2-0 in Game 3.
And they learned from last year’s Devils that if they take their foot off the gas, they’re likely to stall, as the Rangers did after dominating in the first two games.
“We don’t want to do the same thing as last year,” Kaapo Kakko said of the Rangers’ seven-game losing streak to New Jersey. “We’re ready for it. Two years ago, we played a lot of games and played well. I’ve played a lot of playoff games, and so do the other guys, and we played well two years ago. We had a lot of the same players. We know what to do.
“I think it will help a little bit. I hadn’t played many games up until then, so [run to the conference final in 2021-22]. For now, I might know a little more about what to do there and how the heavy matches will go. ”
Just as the Rangers had a veteran to lean on two years ago, the Capitals have the same thing.
Alex Ovechkin has more postseason experience than any player on the Rangers’ roster, with the closest player being Chris Kreider with 108 games, 40 more than the Washington captain has on his resume. few.
The Rangers may have been successful in protecting Ovechkin in Game 1. Ovechkin was held without a shot on goal for the fourth time in his playoff career, but the 38-year-old still has the ability to change, like any top player. The trajectory of the series.
They learned that from the Devils’ Erik Haula last year and from Lightning captain Steven Stamkos the year before.
Playoff experience alone won’t make a team much better.
How a team handles it – how they communicate it and shape it – can make a difference.
