The Rangers for the second time this series and third overall blew a late-game late, falling 5-4 to Ottawa on Saturday. Instead of handshakes, as New York should have won the series 4-1, there is heartache, again. That's no disrespect to the Senators, who have found ways to rally and win in Games 2 and 5, but late-game breakdowns, which have been the story of much of the playoffs, reared its ugly head again Saturday for New York.
Game Lowlights:
I debated just reposting my blog after the Game 2 loss, as many of the themes are the same. Poor late game management, a lack of effort from the entire team, as too many passengers, some unlucky bounces, but you make your own breaks, and the end result is another disappointing loss that leaves New York on the break of elimination.
Some thoughts:
1)
AV
In Games 2 against Montreal and Ottawa, AV had Nick Holden and Marc Staal on the ice. Saturday, it was Staal, Brendan Smith, Tanner Glass, Derek Stepan and Mats Zuccarello. Unlike coach Guy Boucher, who rode his horse, an injured Erik Karlsson for 5:32 of the final 6:35 of the game, AV had Staal rather than Ryan McDonagh and Brady Skjei on late...again. In fact, Staal played 2:03 of the final 3:27 while Skjei at the final 5:04 of the third period.
Why the hell is that combination of forwards out there? In fact, Stepan and Zucc had the points and were in good shape, but Glass was too low in the zone, allowing Karlsson's cross ice pass to Clarke MacArthur and the shot that started the bouncing puck in front that went off the skates of Staal, Glass and Smith and into the goal. Why isn't MIchael Grabner or Oscar Lindberg or Jesper Fast or Rick Nash on as the third forward in that situation? Why does AV insist on sitting Skjei and playing Staal? Plus, on the play, Lundqvist, when he dove to stop the puck helped it get in. If he had gone straight across the goal line, maybe he stops it, but in the heat of the moment and a split second response, hard to be critical there of him.
Then the piece-de-resistance, the quote. I have no clue what the heck AV meant and if he was serious. But if he was, that explains a lot because even a pee-wee hockey player knows you pull the goalie late, especially in the playoffs.
“There’s definitely something structure-wise, that I thought we had addressed,” Alain Vigneault said after the overtime loss put the Rangers on the brink of elimination. “Maybe the guys didn’t know their goaltender was coming [off], but it was less than two minutes and they were down by a goal so . . . we should’ve expected it.”
2)
Missed chances
Grabner with a breakaway in the first, stoned by Anderson. Chris Kreider, in one of his few moments of visibility in the game, with a semi-break ion the third, stoned by Anderson as he showed too early that he was looking five-hole. .Miller’s shot went off Anderson and hit the crossbar with less than four minutes gone and Grabner deflected a shot past Anderson at 4:12, but the goal was waved off because his stick was above the height of the crossbar when he made contact with the puck. The latter was close, closer than I even thought the more time I watched it, but it definitely looked like the stick was above the crossbar.
3)
Lundqvist
Lundqvist clearly wasn't as good as he was in Games 3 and 4 but not necessarily the reason why the Rangers lost. You can definitely say that in a game where New York scored four times, they should win. So, he clearly deserves some of the blame.
With New York up 2-0, Ottawa got a dirty goal to start the comeback, but one Lundqvist should have stopped. Lundqvist made a lousy attempt at clearing the puck around the boards, which started the play. Rather than leaving it for Ryan McDonagh who was just a few feet away or tapping it to him, Lundqvist cleared it past McDonagh to Zack Smith, who fed Chris Wideman at the point. Wideman's shot should have been failed to corral it and Mark Stone outmuscled Dan Girardi in front to put Ottawa on the board. Two bad plays by Lundqvist and Ottawa now had momentum. The Senators rode that to a 15-5 shot edge the final 14:47 of the period, starting with Wideman's shot.
The second goal by Mike Hoffman started with a pretty passing play off a Rick Nash offensive zone turnover. New York was actually in pretty good position, but Jimmy Vesey, rather than staying with Hoffman going down the right side, went to MacArthur who took the drop pass from Karlsson. When Kevin Hayes was late getting to Hoffman as he came down the ice, it was a goal.
The third goal is on Hank. Granted Zack Smith's shot went off Tom Pyatt, who was engaged with Brady Skjei in front and may have also ticked off Skeji's skate. But it was far enough out and travelling slow enough that it shouldn't have beaten Lundqvist five-hole.
I went through the fourth goal. The fifth goal was a bad bounce and a misplay by Lundqvist. Kyle Turris, who led Ottawa with nine blocks, building off his tussle late in Game 4 with Glass, received a cross-ice pass from Alexandre Burrows. We can argue all we want if he was or wasn't offside - per the rules, he looked to be in possession of the puck and therefore onside - and his first shot was blocked by Dan Girardi. Rather than deflecting wide or out, it came right back to Turris and he beat Lundqvist five-hole. Hank admitted he thought Turris was going high but you can't beat like that in overtime.
Lundqvist made a ton of brilliant saves as well. But overall, it was an average game at best. Several of the goals looked liked they should have been stopped, with the end result a loss.
4)
Too many passengers
Holden, who had a gorgeous goal, Vesey, with his first playoff goal, Grabner, continually making plays throughout the game and almost had the game-winner. Jesper Fast, who kicked off the scoring, and probably the fourth line, despite the minus-two for Miller and Lindberg and three for Glass, actually came to play. The rest? Average at best.
The first two lines did absolutely nothing, save for Vesey. Hayes was so-so. McDonagh, despite the goal, was grossly outplayed by Karlsson and meh at best, while the blue line overall wasn't great. Despite all the that, with 90 seconds to go, New York led 4-3.
Staal looked to be tentative much of the game, but especially after the game-tying goal. He was a major liability Saturday after playing better in games 3-4. Yet, AV had him out late in the game, which as I noted above, made no sense at all.
5)
Rebound and recovery
Game 2 was a gut punch but New York recovered. Now, they need to do it again with the knowledge that Tuesday is a must-win, and if they prevail, so is Thursday. The good news is just like after Game 2, there is an extra day of rest. This time though, I don't foresee any lineup changes coming to spark the team.
Unlike 2012, Game 6 is at home and a Game 7 would be on the road. The comeback in 2012 started on the road and carried forward to home. New York needs to play as they did in Games 3-4 and how they started Game 5. If they do, they should be heading back to Ottawa for Game 7.
But right now, it's heartache rather than handshakes.
Playoff Schedule:
Ottawa Senators (A2) vs. New York Rangers (WC1)
Thursday, April 27, Ottawa 2 Rangers 1, Ottawa leads series 1-0
Saturday, April 29, Ottawa 6 NY Rangers 5, 2OT, Ottawa leads series 2-0
Tuesday, May 2, NY Rangers 4 Ottawa 1, Ottawa leads series 2-1
Thursday, May 4, NY Rangers 4 Ottawa 1, Series is even 2-2
Saturday, May 6, Ottawa 5 NY Rangers 4, OT, Ottawa leads series 3-2
Tuesday, May 9, 7pm: Ottawa @ NY Rangers | NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports
*Thursday, May 11, TBD: NY Rangers @ Ottawa | TBD
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