The Rangers lost for the first time this postseason, falling 4-3 on a late PPG by Brady Skjei. In addition New York trailed by more than one goal for this first time in the playoffs, reallying for 2-0 and 3-1 deficits to tie the game in the third. THe Blueshirts will try and clinch the series Monday, 7pm at MSG.
Scratches: Chytil, Rempe, Jones, Ruhwedel, Edstrom and Domingue
LTIR: Wheeler
A few thoughts:
1) Filip Chytil -what's noticeable from the lineup is that Chytil did not play. He missed the game due to illness, which is all that was reported. Coach Peter Laviolete said Chytil was fine at dinner the night before but woke up ill Saturday morning. Of course, the first and prevailing thought is that Chytil is dealing with post-concussion syndrome. That has not been reported and Chytril remarked post-game Thursday how he welcomed the contact and was fine after the contest. Chytil practiced with contact several times with the team before he was activated, but as we know, symptoms from the concussion can pop up at any time. Hopefully, it just is an illness, but until more info is provided, it's hard not to be very concerned.
2) The game - New York had a godawful start. A turnover by Barclay Goodrow, who went up the middle instead of just the puck up the boards, was picked off in center ice by Evgeny Kuznetsov. He came into the offensive zone with speed and beat Igor Shesterkin high to the blocker side. That shot might be one Igor wants back, though he was screened by Jacob Trouba.
Down 1-0, another turnover - yes, it was like a bakery early on - this one by Trouba - after Artemi Panarin also failed to get the puck out of the zone - was picked off at the blue line. Once again, an attempt to go up the middle was a killer. The end result was Teuvo Teravainen's shot getting blocked by Shesterkin but Stefan Noesen got the rebound and scored. Just 6:33 in, it was 2-0 Canes.
New York rallied from there. Will Cuylle, who was very good Saturday, took a perfect pass from Kaapo Kakko, who caught Cuylle in stride and beat Frederik Andersen with a shot off the right post. Carolina went up 3-1 in the first on a Sebastian Aho goal, the first time New York allowed three goals in a period this postseason. Aho's goal resulted after he got free down low from being marked because Panarin and Vincent Trocheck didn't get to the slot. The Rangers cut the lead to one in the second period. Goodrow made up for his turnover, tipping in a Braden Schendier point shot.
The Rangers even the game at three in the third. Alexis Lafrenière, who might have been New York's best player on the ice and was skating on a line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, scored at 2:04 when he carried the puck below the goal line and backhanded a shot off Andersen’s back and into the net. Laf just missed scoring on a similar shot earlier in the game and was rewarded this time.
Ryan Lindren's tripping penalty set up Skeji's point shot power play goal. Igor most certainly wants that one back. He may have been distracted by the deflection attempt and stick in his face. But Skeji's shot went in off the post for the game-winner. The goal was Carolina's first PPG after 16 stops in the series and the first tally allowed after 24 straight stops overall by New York.
3) The goalies - for the first time in 31 games, since Game 5 in 2022, Shesterkin allowed more than three goals. Hard to fault him for the loss, especially seeing how New York started the game. We all expect Igor to come up big Monday as he normally rebounds well from a non-elite game.
Andersen was solid though most certainly not great. He made a few key saves in the third but he benefited from ping central. New York hit at least a pair of posts, one By Lafreniere and one by Alex Wennberg, and Lindgren's shot hit the knob of Andersen's stick, which prevented another goal. The Rangers very easily could have had several more goals, so they should head into Game 5 with confidence offensively.
4) Top-six/bottom-six: This might have been the worst game that the top-six played in the playoffs. The Zib, Kreider and Jack Roslovic line was broken up with Lafreniere moved up to double shift with the big boys. Panarin, Trocheck and Lafrenière were on for both the Noesen and Aho goals, Laf picked up his play when moved to the Zib line. Also having a rough game was the D pair of Erik Gustafsson and Trouba, with the former on for two of the Canes' tallies and the latter on the ice for all three. Despite that, I don't foresee Laviolette making any lineup changes.
On the flip side, though, was the bottom-six. As mentioned above, Kakko and Cuylle notched goals and were noticeable throughout, especially Kakko. Brodzinski had jump to his game and used his speed to create chances. Goodrow helped make up for his early faux pas with a goal. If the bottom-six plays like this and the top-six rebounds even slightly, New York has a great chance to end this series Monday.
The team did not seem overly fazed by the loss, which is a good thing. I will say that the pressure does shift now to New York. Carlina gained momentum and life with the win, as well as finally broke through on the power play. A loss by the Rangers means they would have to head back to Carolina for Game 6 with the Canes knowing a home win forces a winner-take-all Game 7. All that matters now is learning from the mistakes made Saturday and finding a way to win Monday.
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