Consistency is defined as the achievement of a level of performance that does not vary greatly in quality over time. As athletes, the goal has to be consistency in play, hopefully at an elite level. As fans, what we hope from our athletes is consistency with the occasional ability to step up their play when the need calls for it. In addition, we demand similar from the referees. That they make calls that are truly penalties and have consistency of calls from shift to shift, period to period, game to game and team to team.
The Rangers consistency for the most part has been there as they will give up their body to make the play and stop a shot as well as make the smart play. That Henrik Lundqvist will usually be a constant in net and that unfortunately, the offense will be consistently inconsistent. For the most part, that pervious statement was true, though for as good as Hank was at times throughout Game 4, and likely the only reason it was close, he had some bobbles of inconsistency. The offense again was inconsistent, while the team clearly did not always make the smart play. In addition, the referees were consistent, consistently bad. After seemingly having gotten over their bad calls in the first series and found their sea legs, they reverted to form in Game 4. They themselves were not the reason the Rangers lost, even though the calls or lack thereof did not help, but the Rangers have no one to really blame but themselves. Their inconsistent play is the reason that just like the Ottawa series, they come home tied 2-2 in a best of three series.
Overall Game Highlights:
The Caps grossly outplayed Rangers in the first. So much for that momentum that carried over from the Game 3 win. Only reason it was close was because of Hank. A horrific turnover by Chris Kreider, who for some reason tried a backhanded up the center of the ice clearing pass, which basically landed him on the bench, gave Ovechkin a wide-open shooting lane on net. I am sure Hank would love to have another chance at making that save, as Ovie's blast ticked off his glove into the net, though it looked like it might have changed direction. That pass while a physical mistake was surprising and a sign of inconsistency, as that type of play is something you rarely see from the Rangers. As TPC said, if you don't play with desperation in the playoffs, you go you home and the Capitals were the more desperate team in the first and really took it to the Rangers.
What Pete wrote at 1:28 PM Saturday proved to be true: "They need to get the forecheck going, cycle the puck, and great some offense from behind the goal line. Even if that doesn't pay immediate dividends, at least they can grab a little momentum." The goal by AA 1:10 into the second was a direct result of just that. Cally and Boyle did a solid job of keeping the puck alive and passing to each other behind the net. Boyle got it to Girardi, who put it in net and AA was in the right place at the right time to put it in the net.
Just when it looked like the Rangers had taken control of the momentum of the game, Nicklas Backstrom stole it back. What started as a fairly innocuous play ended anything but that. Chimera steamed down the right wing and was stopped on a bad angle shot. The puck went around the boards where Joel Ward played it from left to right behind the net. Backstom knocked AA on his rear, then blasted Stralman to gain control of the puck and pass it back around the boards. Here is where inconsistency #2 occurred. The Rangers own zone coverage broke down, with Stralman and Kreider not knowing how to get, leaving an opening as wide as a truck for Ward to find Backstrom, who beat Hank for a 2-1 lead. The Rangers are usually much better in matching up in their own zone or finding the right area to guard, neither of which happened on the goal.
Now comes inconsistency #3, this one on the league itself. If anyone tells you that Ovi did not leave his feet when he plastered Girardi, tell them to get their eyes checked. Also, the argument that he just tried to kick the puck, missed and then saw Girardi coming and hit him just to "protect" himself is pure crap because the puck was well off to the side when he lifted off and hit Girardi. The officials got the call right on the ice, but how that is not deemed as being reviewable is beyond me. Fortunately, Girardi was not hurt, but I thought based on what we heard from Shanahan that injuries were a factor but not the only component of a possible suspension and reviewable hit. Hagelin hit Alfredsson with an elbow, earning the suspension. In this case, it was a shoulder, which might have played a reason for not reviewing it, but he clearly left his feet, the puck was past him and he is a repeat offender, so a bit surprised it wasn't at least looked at by the league, even though I didn't expect any further action to come from it.
The Rangers evened it at 2, thanks to a misread icing and hustle by AA. As mentioned above, offense behind the goal line was needed. In this case, AA raced to get the puck behind the net and fed Gaborik in front, who banged it through for a 2-2 tie.
Now comes inconsistency #4 and 5, both on the officials. Somehow the officials decide to make the call on Hagelin for "slashing" John Carlson, who dropped his stick on the play, in the neutral zone. But, when Ovechkin slashes Boyle, breaking his stick, just one shift before, nothing is called. Call it consistently both ways, especially that late in a tie game. Then. on the PK, as Ryan Callahan is in position to get the puck out of the zone, Laich stick trips and/or gets tangled up with him, you can use your own term, though Emrick seems to indicate in his call that he was tripped, yet, the officials and several others see it as Boyle getting checked into Callahan, yet somehow knocked his skates out from under him. the puck doesn't get out of the zone. It ends up on Green's stick and he blasts it by Hank, who probably should have stopped this one, but appeared crossed-up on where it was going. So two inconsistencies, and a third, if believe the misplay by Hank could be called an inconsistency, and the Rangers trail and lose 3-2.
Regardless of all the outside inconsistencies, the Rangers did themselves little favors in this game and that's what ultimately cost them the win. We can complain all we want about the calls, and even though we all feel we are right, the Rangers still had a chance to win and didn't as the PP continues to struggle and PK has given up some bad goals as well. Plus, I pointed out our New York's own inconsistencies above. A lack of desperation and determination along with several really dump penalties and plays that led Torts to bench and scream at several of his players were just the tip of the iceberg. While the Rangers out chanced Washington, they were beaten at their own game, with the Caps blocking 26 shots - led by nine by Jeff Schulz - to the Rangers seven. All season long, the Rangers have answered the bell and usually imparted their will on their opponents. For some reason, the hate that existed in the Senators series is not present here, and maybe New York needs a little anger to raise heir games. Unless the Rangers step up their intensity, desire and will to win, they will head back to Washington down 3-2 as they were to Ottawa. To rely on winning a pair of games with your backs to the wall is obviously not the ideal situation, so the Blueshirts will need a full 20-man effort to prevail on Monday as Washington has shown they really are a mirror image of the Rangers.
(apologies again for the delay today. As I mentioned Friday, my college basketball coach, D-3 at Yeshiva University, is still there and Sunday morning we named the court in his honor. In addition, was up until 4 AM this morning doing a NL FAAB article. Wanted to catch up on all the comments before I posted the blog, contributing to the delay)
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