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ECSF: Gm 2: OTT 6 NYR 5, 2OT, Rangers/AV snatch defeat from jaws of victory

April 30, 2017, 3:19 AM ET [261 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Rangers blew leads of 4-2 and 5-3, the latter coming in the final 3:19 of the third period before falling 6-5 in double overtime to the Senators. Ottawa's win gave them a commanding two games to none lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals. It was the Jean-Gabriel Pageau show, as he scored the two late goals in the third on deflections and the game-winner on a blast top shelf wide side.



This loss is on coach Alain Vigneault and assistant Jeff Beukeboom. Larry Brooks can call out Henrik Lundqvist for not being at his best, and maybe he wasn't, especially on Pageau's first goal and the one by Mark Stone. But any attempt to pin the loss on him is short sighted and misguided. Player usage or more precisely, misusage, came back to bite the Rangers in the butt. I am going to do my best to avoid foul language because right now, I am spitting mad.

5v5 ice time, look at Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi plus Nick Holden and Marc Staal compared to Brady Skjei and Brendan Smith. Same for Oscar Lindberg and Pavel Buchnevich.




AV cut down to three lines in the third period and in overtime after juggling his line combinations to start the second period. After the first, he put Mats Zuccarello up with the Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad duo, added J.T. Miller to Derek Stepan and Rick Nash, while putting Michael Grabner on the left with Kevin Hayes and Jesper Fast. As a result, Buchnevich got just one shift after the second period ended, and that was with the Rangers on a power play. His 5:46 of total ice time was only more than Lindberg, who got 5:07 total and none after the third period. In addition, Jimmy Vesey, who got just three shifts in the first overtime and finished with a total of 16:54 of ice time, just slightly ahead of Miller, who played 16:45 in the game and at least in this instance, his minutes made sense, because he struggled.

Riddle me this Batman, what the ##$%^$. Why? You want to say Buchnevich had struggled and deserved to be benched, maybe I give you that. But clearly not for almost two plus periods in a game that went into double-overtime. Then, late in the game up by a goal, why isn't Lindberg on the ice trying to protect the lead? Instead, Out there is Hayes, who stupidly breaks his stick on an ill-advised cross-check, which helped lead to the tying goal.

The most egregious mistake was Smith playing just 2:34 in the third. In addition, he and Skjei sat down the stretch of the game. Now where have we seen this before? Oh, that's right game 2, where Holden and Staal were on late for the tying goal while Smith and Skjei sat the last three plus minutes of the game. What happened here? McDonagh and Girardi were on for Pageau's goal that make it 5-4 with McDonagh failing to recover after a check in the corner allowing Pageau to get inside position, Both McDonagh and Girardi were also on for the game-tying goal. McDonagh had two players in front and when Pageau moved to deflect it, Girardi was on the other side of the goal, leaving an open deflection lane. In addition, Girardi's blind plass in the neutral zone enabled Pageau to pick the puck and beat Lundqvist on a shot that likely should have been saved, but the play started to a bad turnover by Girardi.

On the game-winner, what in the heck was Holden doing pinching there in no-man's land? Not deep enough to make a difference or high enough in the zone tor recover, resulting in the 2-on-1 and goal by Pageau. A horrific read by Holden and boom, game over. In addition, lousy coverage by Staal and Holden allowing Turris and Stone to get inside position for the goal 1:28 into the third to make the score 4-3.

Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.
Safe is death, and in this case, the shell is death.


Use whichever term, adage or truism you want, they all apply. AV helped toss this game in the garbage. Granted, the players are the ones on the ice and they made the mistakes, including the lousy/lazy coverage by Stepan, Nash and Holden on Ottawa's second goal of the game by Marc Methot, but AV and Beuk are the ones deploying the defensemen. Their misuse cost New York Game 2 against Montreal. But in that case, since the Rangers had won Game 1, the impact was slightly less, because the series was still tied at one game each. In this case, now the Blueshirts are down 2-0 in the series. Lest you forgot, the Rangers laid an egg in Game 2, possibly due to the hangover of Game 2. If that happens Tuesday, the series is just about over.

AV made the same mistakes in 2014. He failed to play those who deserved more ice time, relying on his veterans as well as the same style of play - the shell - then. What happened? New York blew leads in Games 1, 2 and 5, costing them the series. That same dam mentality of going into a shell and relying on Lundqvist to make spectacular save after spectacular save came back to haunt the team. Today, after grabbing a 4-2 lead on a brilliant goal by Skjei, New York spent the last 15 minutes of the game in a shell rather than pressing the advantage. Plus, rather than rolling four lines and three defensive pairings, AV shortened the lineup, using three lines while incorrectly deploying the blueliners. Here is visual evidence of this:




I give Ottawa a lot of credit for battling, but you would somewhat expect to see that when playing at home and in the playoff. But, on a day when Skjei scored twice, including once after a brilliant defensive play, then rush and toe drag for the goal; New York got two shorthanded goals, one from Grabner and one from Stepan, who needed that one in the worst way; and finally a goal from Chris Kreider, the team pissed away a win. I have repeatedly defended AV, this time, there is no defense. If New York fails to come back and win this series, despite his contract extension, I wouldn't be shocked if AV was on shaky ground. You can't continually make the same mistake and not be called to the carpet on it. Against Montreal, New York rallied, saving AV's rear end. He better hope the same happens in this series.

Playoff Schedule:

Ottawa Senators (A2) vs. New York Rangers (WC1)

Thursday, April 27, 7pm: Ottawa 2 Rangers 1, Ottawa leads series 1-0
Saturday, April 29, 3pm: Ottawa 6 Rangers 5, 2OT, Ottawa leads series 2-0
Tuesday, May 2, 7pm: Ottawa @ NY Rangers | NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports
Thursday, May 4, 7:30pm: Ottawa @ NY Rangers | NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports
*Saturday, May 6, TBD: NY Rangers @ Ottawa | TBD
*Tuesday, May 9, TBD: Ottawa @ NY Rangers | TBD
*Thursday, May 11, TBD: NY Rangers @ Ottawa | TBD

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