The Rangers fell 3-1 to Pittsburgh in Game 3 at MSG on Tuesday. Despite the return of Captain Ryan McDonagh, New York was unable to match their effort from Game 2 - and also Game 1 - as Pittsburgh clogged the neutral zone, preventing the Rangers from gaining the zone. The Blueshirts failed or were unable to adjust, resulting in just 17 shots on net, many of which came from distance with no drive to the net,
With McDonagh's return, the d-pairings were McDonagh-Skjei, Staal-Klein and Yandle-Boyle. Coach Alain Vigneault scratched Dylan McIlrath and to a lesser extent Raphael Diaz, opting to go with Boyle's experience over McI's physical presence and Diaz's better mobility and puck-moving skills. That move backfired, as Boyle struggled all night and was involved in the critical play, where he and Yandle collided just inside the Rangers' blue line. That allowed Matt Cullen to come in all alone on goal, where he beat Henrik Lundqvist 4:16 into the third period. Look for Boyle to sit in Game 4 with either McIlrath, Diaz or Dan Girardi, who is inching closer, back in.
New York had a goal in the first period overturned on what was the correct call. Conor Sheary took a four-minute high-sticking major while the Penguins were 1:28 into a power play. Brady Skjei's pass to JT Miller led him just slightly offside, negating Chris Kreider's PPG at 12:56 of the first. The Rangers did nothing - literally nothing, a no shots - the remaining 3:14 of the man-advantage; a theme we would see most of the night. The easy rhetoric is that this overturned goal changed the momentum of the game, which might be the case. But NY still had a ton of time remaining on the power play and they did take the lead early in the second.
Rick Nash started the play with a great defensive play while shorthanded, then was shot out of a cannon. He gather Kevin Klein's lead pass, blazed in on Matt Murray and beat him top-shelf wide-side. Nash was by far the team's best forward Tuesday, though it went for naught. Marc Staal took a questionable penalty late and Pitt capitalized. In Game 1, Pittsburgh scored in the last minute of the first and with 1:04 left in the second period. Tuesday. Sidney Crosby tipped-in a gorgeous cross-ice feed from Phil Kessel with 42.7 left in the frame. Momentum and lead lost.
In the third, the Cullen goal wasn't the only unsightly thing. Murray, who hadn't played since April 9 and practiced once since the injury, had to make just four saves in the stanza. This after Murray only had to face 13 shots through the first two periods. As Larry Brooks pointed out, 17 shots overall for the Rangers without a single rebound chance; 17 shots that included a measly three in 7:28 on the power play. But it's easy to blame AV and Scott Arniel. From the comments, the players knew what needed to be done, they just didn't do it. If you want to blame the coach, which is the convenient way out, that's fine. While I disagree with playing Boyle, too easy to blame this loss on him. If you are going that route, does he get credit for the Game 2 win or only the players?
“That’s the biggest thing we have to learn from tonight, more so than anything,… Derek Stepan said, “is we did a terrible job of getting through the neutral zone and that is exactly the reason why we didn’t get a single look the whole third period, because we did such a poor job of coming through the neutral zone. They just have four guys between the blue and the red line. It’s got to be a real simple play. It’s got to be the red line, chip it in, and go get it, because what we did, we just kept on trying to get through it, and this is not going to work. We were stubborn…. Playoff hockey, it’s a real simple game. It’s get it to the red line and get it deep. That’s how you’re going to get it in their zone. They have four guys in the neutral zone. You’re not going to get it through pretty. You have to get it in deep and work as a five-man unit to get it back.…“We kept trying to tell ourselves — we have to lay in and shoot it,… said McDonagh, who seemed hesitant to fire a full-bore slap shot of his own. “I’m sure we’ll look at some things when we watch the game and wish we put more pucks on net, especially because it was [Murray’s] first game in a while.…
I wrote this on the blog comments late last night and running it again here as it's applicable. For once, can we give the other team a bit of credit? Pitt played a very smart game, clogging up the neutral zone and also doing a much better job with their breakouts . But I will also say the Rangers didn't adapt to it, which may be on the coaches, but from the post game quotes above, the players seemed to know what they should have done but didn't do it.
There is no momentum in hockey or really that much in sports. Each game is its own entity. Maybe you take a little with you. But if that was the case, why didn't SJ outplay LA yesterday after winning the first two games on the road? How did Chicago lose at home to St Louis after winning Game 2? How did Nashville lose 3-0 at home after two road wins in Anaheim? Same with Detroit at home tonight against TB after winning Game 3. Are you to tell me none of those teams know what need to be done? Of course they do, but there are two teams on the ice and the other one may be pretty good at stopping or limiting what you want to do.
I realize one playoff loss is like a 10-game losing streak, but the constant bashing of the team and AV is getting out of hand. If you have four PP and only get 17 shots total, it's rare you will win. AV had a tough choice, McI or Boyle to sit, and you can make argument for and against each. He went with Boyle, which backfired as Boyle had a poor game, way beyond where he and Yandle collided. But Pitt was carrying play in the third and might have scored anyway. NY still had most of the period to tie it and couldn't generate a sustained attack or anything through the neutral zone, that's on the players and credit to Pitt for shutting them done.
Part of that blame may have to go to the lack of urgency and inability to raise your compete level to adjust to the opponent, as we have seen too often, including Games 5 and 7 against TB last year at MSG. But, as we know, the Rangers like to use their speed to breakout and struggle against teams that employ a trap to slow them down. When they fail to adjust, it looks like they aren't competing or raising their effort. In addition, you also have to give credit every once in a while to the opponent, it doesn't make any of us less of a fan by doing so.
Before the series, I said the PP would be huge because it's going against one of the PK teams in the league. So not shocked they are struggling on it. What you say about is pretty similar to what was said about facing Jeff Zatkoff in Game 1. They adjusted in Game 2. This one is on the players. They knew what Pitt was doing and kept repeating the same strategy over and over yet the knew it was stupid. Need to regroup in practice tomorrow and come out in Game 4 as they did in Game 3.
Highly doubt the NHL even looks at Kris Letang's slash on Viktor Stalberg's neck (see below). That view is based on Ben Lovejoy's boarding of Stepan going unpenalized or fined and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare suspended just one game for checking from behind on Dmitry Orlov. So to expect any sort of discipline would just be foolish on my part.
On a separate note, out of the box over the weekend for Passover. Looking for a fill in for me to post a blog Saturday and Sunday. Possibly just Sunday if I can get one up late Friday. Let me know if interested.