The Rangers look to regain "momentum" and grab a three games to one series tonight at Amalie Arena. New York held on for a 3-2, Game 2, win Friday and held a 2-0 lead almost midway through Game 3 before Tampa rallied. The Lightning, who were the better team Sunday, earned the victory with 41.6 seconds to go on Ondrej Palat's marker. Game 5 will be Thursday night at MSG.
A few thoughts, as not going to get into the recap, since you all may be even better versed on each game than me.
1) The Trouba train needs a tune up. What I mean by that is Jacob Trouba needs to know when to throttle down and play smart hockey, His aggressiveness and willingness to dish out hits and take/give punishment is a major reason why he has become a top- or second-pair blueliner. But that aggressiveness or over aggressiveness or failure at times to play good positional hockey has a tendency to get Trouba in trouble.
Sunday, Trouba took three penalties. Two resulted in PPG for Tampa, erasing the 2-0 Rangers lead. The third negated a good chunk of four-minute power play. In football, the term is controlled aggression. Trouba needs to be a lot better and a lot smarter today
2) Control the neutral zone - when reading about the Game 2 win, my immediate concern was on the push Tampa made, especially the last 10 minutes of the contest. It sounded like the Lightning figured out how to attack the Rangers and carry play. Sure enough, this was the case in Game 3, as the Lightning were the better team and for stretches, game play looked like Game 4 against Pitt and Game 2 against Carolina.
Tampa Bay squeezed the neutral zone on the Rangers while able to go side to side and north and south with speed. The Anthony Cirelli-Brandon Hagel-Alex Killorn line ate the Kreider-Zibanejad-Vatrano line for breakfast, lunch and dinner, dominating play, conjuring memories of Jordan Staal's trio from the last round. The Lightning, feeding off the home crowd, were more engaged, driven and on top of the Rangers. New York failed to meet that intensity. The loss, while far from ideal, should be a wake up call for the Blueshirts, showing them up close and personal what Tampa can do.
3) Lines - as of press time, the lineup is up in the air. Ryan Strome left Sunday's game in the second period after Palat's cross check. He tried one more shift, but either his back or leg, which looked to have buckled, is the issue. Coach Gerard Gallant said he expects Strome to play, but that clearly is not set in stone.
Barclay Goodrow, who missed three weeks with a reported fractured ankle, came up lame after blocking Victor Hedman's shot during the game. Gallant was less sure about his availability. Knowing Goodrow, if he can play, he will, but his effectiveness might be compromised.
If both don't suit up, then what? I would expect either Kevin Rooney or Jonny Brodzinski, likely Rooney, to skate in place of Goodrow and either Dryden Hunt or Julien Gauthier, likely Hunt in Strome's stead. Move Andrew Copp to center on the second line and slide Hunt in on the wing. Rooney slots in as the fourth line center. Do not mess with the Kid Line.
If only Strome is out, Gallant could move Goodrow up to center the second line and slot Rooney as the 4C. It's possible he goes with Hunt, but playing Rooney gives New York another penalty kill and option for the fourth line if Goodrow is unable to make it the entire game. Options exist, though none as palatable as the 12 forwards in the lineup.
4) Just win baby - despite all that happened Sunday, New York led 2-1 heading into the third. Part of that was gilded, as Igor Shesterkin stood on his head masking many of the deficiencies in play. Sunday's loss should be a lesson learned; the same if they watched the Western Conference Finals. Never let a team off the hook. Now, they need to rebound and remember what they did so well in Game 1 and most of Game 2 and remediate what went wrong in the latter part of Game 2 and Game 3.
The Rangers have a shot to be up 3-1 in the series, but it will take everyone pulling in the same direction. Smart play in all three zones. Eliminate the stupid penalties and bad turnovers. Create traffic in front of Andrei Vasilelvskiy while also doing a better job protecting Shesterkin.
#NoQuitinNY