The officials were surprisingly whistle-happy through the opening 20 minutes of Game 1 between the Rangers and Capitals on Sunday at the Garden.
Six penalties were called in the first period on the way to eight in the game, a 4-1 Rangers win.
The way this game was officiated in general, however, made it difficult to get into the flow of the game.
“I thought there were too many penalties in the game,” said Jimmy Vesey, who helped the Rangers fend off all four Capitals power plays.
“I thought the first period there was not a whole lot going on, not a whole lot of five-on-five. I don’t know, I looked up at one point and the shots were like 7-4, so I thought it definitely affected the first period at least.”
Both teams went scoreless with the man-advantage, with the Capitals whiffing on four opportunities and the Rangers failing to convert on two.
Three of the Capitals’ first four shots in the opening period were recorded on the power play, a testament to how little the Rangers gave up five-on-five early in the game.
The opening frame felt like a feeling-out period for both teams, which became a lot more difficult to do under all the different situations.
If there was a statistic that tracked how many players were thrown out of the faceoff circle on Sunday, it would probably be a staggeringly high number.
It didn’t have an effect on the physicality of the matchup, however, which only increased as the game went on.
Lots of players lingered on the ice after the whistle for the second intermission.
There were an abundance of individual conversations, while Capitals agitator Tom Wilson found himself in the middle of a group of Rangers.
“Obviously, they want to play physical, we want to play physical, it’s the playoffs,” Barclay Goodrow said. “It’s kind of what it’s all about. Both teams are trying to do the same thing.”
After stopping 20 of the 21 shots he saw, Igor Shesterkin became the sixth goalie in NHL history to allow two or fewer goals in 10 consecutive home playoff starts and the first since Martin Brodeur.
Chris Kreider played in his 108th playoff game, surpassing Marc Staal for the second most among Rangers skaters.