After the Montreal Canadiens finished off the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of their second-round series, there was a belief around the Bell Center that the Canadiens would have a great chance to get to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1993.
The Habs had slain the league's Presidents' Trophy winners and finished the job in Boston. Surely, the New York Rangers were not going to stand in their way.
But the Rangers did not get that version of the Eastern Conference Final script. Instead, they skated into Montreal with full hearts and no hesitation. They jumped on top early thanks to Martin St. Louis and Mats Zuccarello and never looked back in coming up with a 7-2 road victory in Game 1.
Everything the Canadiens had done well against Boston evaporated against New York. Head coach Michel Therrien said his team was neither physically nor mentally ready to play.
The Habs will likely return to form in Game 2 of the series. However, Alain Vigneault's New York Rangers dominated Game 1. Here are the biggest takeaways from the game.
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Article written by Steve Silverman
New York Rangers vs. Montreal Canadiens: Biggest Takeaways from Game 1
May 17th, 2014 by Steve Silverman Leave a reply »
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