The Rangers rallied to a 2-1 overtime win on Friday night. That victory has enabled the Blueshirts to play Game 6 Sunday in D.C. We all know what's at stake, as it's the same as Friday night but the goal of a Game 7 is just a bit closer than it was before Friday's contest.
For the Rangers, beyond winning, getting in the Capitals head is key. Of course, a win in Game 6 easily does that but getting an early lead would help as well. Washington knows they were less than two minutes away from an Eastern Conference Finals berth. They will say all the right things about knowing how tough it is to win the fourth game of a series, but the pressure starts to ratchet up.
They had the game on their sticks and were unable to close the deal. Now, they have allowed a team who is the Jason Voorhies and Freddy Kruger of hockey when it comes to elimination games to have extended life. The pressure is on the Caps. They were up 3-1, now it's 3-2. They could have and likely should have won the series. Now a loss in Game 6 and it's back to MSG for a Game 7, which will be in front of a crowd thirsty for blood. Ask Tampa Bay how they feel knowing they they were extended to a Game 6 after having two shots to close it out.
The schedule, presuming there is a Game 7 is odd. Game 6 is tomorrow and Game 7 on Wednesday. Tampa Bay now has an extra day to stew as Game 6 is Tuesday and 7 on Thursday. If New York wins 6 and 7, the good news is that even if TB wins Game 6, they only get one extra days rest. But that is a concern or conversation for down the road. For now, it's all about Sunday.
Some thoughts:
Henrik Lundqvist - He has played 12 straight one-goal playoff games, an NHL record, and it’s five 2-1 wins in these playoffs, three of them in OT. Lundqvist is 12-3 in the last 15 elimination games he’s faced (1.33, .957) and it’s 9-0 in the last nine facing elimination at MSG (0.97, .968). But of course, if they had lost 1-0, much of the fan base would have blamed him, even though the goal came on a 2-0 break.
One-timers/move the D - both goals Friday came on one-timers after the defense was forced to move. On Kreider's, it was quick back pass from Derek Stepan to Kreider, which forced Brooks Opik to turn around and came with Martin St. Louis setting a screen in front.
McDonagh's goal came after a steal in center ice by Jesper Fast on Curtis Glencross, who had the Capitals goal. Fast gained the Washington zone and went cross-ice to Stepan. He delayed, getting Glencross and Mike Green to go down and then dropped it back to McDonagh. The Captain blasted it home with Kreider setting the screen.
As Dave Farrish wrote on NHL.com, the Rangers adjusted in Game 5 by moving their feet to get the defense moving before shooting. The players they had in front of the net also moved laterally to create moving screens in front of Holtby. That's what NY has to continue to do in Game 6. Not necessarily a perfect shot, but one created after movement, creating lanes and spaces.
Kreider and the Captain - each entered the game as goats and each finished it as heroes. Kreider was up and down, but he had the big goal to tie it. Then, Ryan McDonagh got the game-winner. McD said all the right things after Thursday's and before Friday's game and answered the bell during the game.
Mats Zuccarello - good to see not everything you read on the internet and twitter is true (sarcasm dripping). Despite reports of a major injury, Zuccarello’s manager said Friday he suffered a concussion and has begun light workouts. Great to see him at Game 5 and fact he is traveling with team to DC is even more good news. Zucc may be out for the playoffs, regardless how long it lasts, but the severity of the injury appears to have been grossly exaggerated.
Careful on the pinch/match ups - the Caps goal came about after Klein and Yandle got caught deep. The balancing of knowing when and how to pinch is difficult, Especially when the team isn't scoring. New York was burned on the goal against but got rewarded on the game-winner. Look for more pinching in Game 6, but they have to be smart, knowing who is on the ice and the match ups. Washington has the last change, so the task gets a bit harder.
Refusal to die - despite lots of reasons to give up the ship, the Rangers refused to Friday. History likely plays a big role in that. As Dan Rosen wrote today, they are 6-1 when facing elimination dating to Game 7 against the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round last season and 12-3 since Game 6 against the Ottawa Senators in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2012. They spoke like a confident, albeit a bit shaken team before Game 5. The win Friday has augmented that confidence a bit, though they know the task ahead of them is still monumental. It's just slightly less so than it was Friday.
This is what I wrote May 12, 2013 when the Rangers faced the Capitals down 3-2 in the series. Then, Game 6 was at home and if there was a Game 7 - which there was - it would be on the road. The switch has flipped a bit, as this contest will be on the road but the story line remains the same.
Do or Die. Win or Go Home. Stave off Elimination. All those cliched and more apply. But today it's about belief, faith and trust. Rule everything else out and just believe in the Blueshirts. Show some faith and have trust they will prevail. I don't know about you, but despite this shortened topsy-turvy season, I am not quite ready for it to end.
This worked well enough Friday night, so far be from me to tempt superstition and fate and the hockey gods by not posting it again. This is what I wrote last year before Game 5. Change Pitt to Washington, add in rebound a year ago when down 3-1 and alter last word from MSG to Verizon Center. Voila, sure as heck sounds familiar.
I am as optimistic as anyone, but would not be shocked if the series ends tonight. If it does, what I want to see is heart, passion and effort. Lose but lose with all of it left on the ice. Show some pride for the name on the front of the jersey. Don't just let Pitt walk over you, stand up for yourselves as an athlete and member of the New York Rangers. The a Kings looked dead to rights down 3-0 and they somehow found way to win over San Jose. Philadelphia came back down similar a few years ago. Screw history. New York has never come back from 3-1 down in a series, make new history this year. Be the first to do so. It doesn't matter who plays and who sits, whoever is in the lineup needs to bring it. To quote Boomer Esiason and it's something I have said a lot, win one shift, then another, then another. Then win one period and another. Then win the game and send it to MSG.
This is from last year's blog before Game 6 against Pittsburgh. I still think it reads well and is still applicable.
The keys include an emotional lift from an unfortunate source, good goaltending, solid special teams, effort and heart. But there is one more: luck. In every contest a little luck has to be involved. You can have the first five I listed but sometimes you need that something extra, at times, and sometimes more times than not, which is luck. It hitting the inside the post and having the shot go on offense or hotting the outside and deflecting away if on defense. It's a bounce here and there. But as you have seen me write before, as Branch Rickey said, luck in the residue of design. I firmly believe you make your own breaks, and if you get it to a Game 7, those breaks can carry you to a win. But first you have to get there.
I said I would run this until the series ends because it's how I feel, so here you go.
If you are a fan, you are a fan through good and bad. If not, then you aren't a true fan. You can be pissed and angry and disappointed and disenfranchised and wanting to toss it all in, but you don't because you are a fan. Even if your belief is shattered to the core, as it is for many of us, you are a fan and that's what keeps you here.
You're a fan because of the name on the front of the jersey, not the back.
It's in your heart and in your soul.
It's part of your life blood.
It never ever goes away, regardless of what happens.
It's why this sucks and hurts down to your core.
That's a fan and that's why we watch and root and pray and hope to the hockey gods.
We are Rangers fans, and no matter what happens, you know and I know and we all know that will never stop regardless of the end result.
WE ARE ALL RANGERS!!!
Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there, including my incredible wife, who is extremely tolerant of the writing I do and means more to me that she will ever know, as well my mother, sister, grandmother, mother in law and sisters in law.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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