Washington gridlock — no, no, this isn’t about Congress — was replaced by Lightning open ice, and what a pleasure it was to watch a couple of skilled teams get out and skate.
“It was completely different,” Carl Hagelin said after Saturday’s Game 1 of the East finals at the Garden. “This was two fast teams using their speed, both teams making plays, not a lot of scrums.
“It was the exact opposite of the last round.”
It was completely different except for the score that was exactly the same — 2-1 for the Rangers for the seventh time in this tournament, through which they have won nine games.