NEW YORK — The chess match between Alain Vigneault and Jon Cooper began in earnest Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden when each coach submitted his starting lineup before Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final.
Cooper declared first as the visiting team, sending out his dynamic trio of Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov. They have produced at prodigious levels for the Tampa Bay Lightning throughout the postseason despite their classification as a second line, so it was hardly a surprising move.
Then Vigneault got a little tricky.
Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi, the Rangers’ unquestioned top pairing that draws all the tough assignments, were on the ice for the U.