Rangers’ gritty sweep of Capitals was six months in the making

WASHINGTON — A lot of the series was ugly — really, it was — and it is a compliment of the highest order to the Rangers that they were able to grind it through, one period after another, one game after another, to complete a first-round sweep of the Caps while penned into tight spaces for nearly all of the series’ 240 minutes.

This, though, was the hockey the Rangers were constructed to play from Day 1 of training camp by then incoming head coach Peter Laviolette. The club’s detail-oriented approach developed over the six-month regular-season marathon was critical in allowing the Blueshirts to prevail 4-2 in Game 4 and move onto the second round .

Only one team has won the Stanley Cup after a first-round sweep in the 18-year-old hard-cap era that began in 2006. That was Colorado two years ago, which swept Nashville before taking the title.

But you know who else, once-upon-a-time, won the Cup after a first-round sweep? Of course you do. Thirty years later, it is 1994.

The Blueshirts advance to Round 2, where they will get either the Hurricanes or Islanders, with Carolina leading the series 3-1 with a second opportunity to wrap it up on Tuesday in Raleigh, N.C. The next series likely would not begin until over the weekend at the earliest, with the Rangers holding home-ice advantage.

The Caps muddied the track for the Rangers, who could never break away from their 17th-overall opponents who were overmatched in talent but refused to go away. Alex Ovechkin, the 38-year-old Putinista, was dreadful throughout the series and was never a factor, going through a playoff year without a point for the first time in his career. He looked like the past.

History on Rangers’ side for Presidents’ Trophy winners with first-round sweeps

The Rangers will have to be far sharper in the near future. They defended very well. They received exceptional goaltending from Igor Shesterkin. They came with a balanced attack, 10 players scoring goals in the series. They were dominant on specialty teams. They are going to need to bring more as the tournament evolves.

“We won the series, so it’s good, but for sure we have to build up for the next round 100 percent,” said Artemi Panarin, whose left-circle power-play wrist shot beat Charlie Lindgren at 3:21 of the third to break a 2-2 draw. “We have to be better, for sure, in the second round. There are better teams in the second round.

“You don’t have many chances so when you have four chances or go home. You can’t say we played bad because we played good. But I think we can play better.”

The Rangers were responsible throughout, committed to the 200-foot game. That was constant through the series. They created and won battles. Even when hemmed in for stretches, they never lost their poise. They gave as good as they got physically. No one bothered Matt Rempe in this one and Rempe didn’t destroy any of the Caps.

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Vincent Trocheck dominated the series both with and without the puck, finishing with three goals and three assists. Mika Zibanejad was on top of his game, finishing with a series-leading seven points (1-6). After this round, at least, no one is questioning the Rangers’ strength down the middle.

If this was an inelegant series in which pleasing aesthetics were not a priority, the Blueshirts power play made music like a symphony. The Blueshirts finished third in the league during the season at 26.4 percent but the unit became more dynamic and creative over the last couple of weeks and went 6-for-16 in this series after a 3-for-4 Game 4.

Bobby Rousseau on the point and Jaromir Jagr operating off the half-wall couldn’t make it any better.

Trocheck’s PPG at 19:44 of the first was a work of art. All five players on the first-unit — Zibanejad, Panarin, Trocheck, Chris Kreider, Adam Fox — touched the puck as the club gained the line.

The team made seven passes in the offensive zone before Trocheck took a centering feed in the middle from Zibanejad and converted on a quick wrist shot. Panarin’s game-winner came off a spinning wrister from the left circle off a feed from Zibanejad following a Trocheck right-circle faceoff win.

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“You’re always working to trying to get better [on the power play] and we’ve been trying to incorporate some more things and some more movement,” Trocheck said. “If we get a little bit stale we want to be able to move around and generate offense.

“The three guys at the top are as dynamic as they come. Whenever we get stale, Bread, Foxy and Mika find a way to make something happen.”

The Rangers might have won this series because of their edge in high-end talent but their focus and mindset were equal assets in this sweep. The Rangers didn’t necessarily dazzle anyone in this series that seemed like a taffy-pull, they didn’t necessarily dazzle anyone through the regular season, but here they are.

First overall, first to advance.

Thirty years later, a first-round sweep.

Who’s next?

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