The New York Rangers put on an outstanding passing display and often looked significantly faster than the Montreal Canadiens in throttling them 7-2 in Game 1 on Saturday. Habs head coach Michel Therrien hopes this is a wake-up call for his team.
He also believes that the Canadiens came into this series with maybe a little too much confidence after beating their historic rivals (and this season’s Presidents’ Trophy winners) the Boston Bruins.
"We'll put this game behind us, we'll move forward, but that was a good lesson," Michel Therrien.
— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) May 17, 2014
Therrien saying loss should help #Habs "come back to earth" suggests they were rather high on themselves coming in.
— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) May 17, 2014
As it turns out, it’s been quite some time since the Rangers have been on this sort of hot streak in the postseason.
Rangers' four-game playoff winning streak their first since sweeping Atlanta Thrashers (remember them) in first round of 2007 playoffs.
— Andrew Gross (@AGrossNewsday) May 17, 2014
During that high-pressure streak, the Rangers have outscored their opponents 17-5.
If a 7-2 loss in a conference finals game against a red-hot team that has been especially difficult to put away in these playoffs isn’t enough to get the Canadiens focused again, then it’s hard to imagine what would do the trick.
“You never want to lose a game, but it’s going to bring us to get back unhurt and make sure that 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,” Therrien said. “So we’ve put that game behind us. We’re going to move forward, but that’s a good lesson.”
