Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Devils don’t seem too concerned about Rangers’ shot blocking

parisereach

More shots hit New York Rangers forwards and defensemen (26) than goalie Henrik Lundqvist (21) in the team’s 3-0 win against the New Jersey Devils in Game 1 tonight. Shot blocking has become a go-to concern for many onlookers and is a well-documented Rangers strategy, but Zach Parise and other Devils told reporters such as Tom Gulitti that it’s not that big of a worry.

“I feel like everyone is obsessed with this shot blocking because that’s what they’re doing,” Parise said. “A lot of teams block shots. We’ve just got to get it around.”

Peter DeBoer echoed Parise’s sentiments in the post-game press conference.

“I mean, you can’t get frustrated by something you expect,” DeBoer said. “We know that’s what they do. And you’ve got to find a way around it. We still generated enough offensive opportunities to score some goals tonight.”

Lundqvist was just good enough to shut down those big chances, such as a series of shorthanded attempts by Parise. DeBoer was probably right not to beat up too much on the Devils after a solid effort, although he did admit that New Jersey was a “little too cute” sometimes.

The Rangers have played suffocating defense all playoffs long, so do you think Parise, Ilya Kovalchuk, Patrik Elias & Co. can solve that riddle often enough to win this series?