The Rangers blew a golden opportunity to go up 2-0 on Philly in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series, falling 4-2 to the Flyers after leading 2-0 in the first. Coming into the game, we all knew the key stats. Philadelphia hadn't won at MSG in nine games, getting outscored 35-10 in the process, while New York hadn't won a Game 2 since 2009, when they ended up leading Washington 3-1 only to lose the next three games. Something had to give, and Sunday, it was NY who failed to get the job done, falling for the seventh straight time in Game 2.
Game Lowlights:
I had six keys coming into today, the sixth one, going up 2-0, went by the wayside, as I noted in the first paragraph. Here's how the other five panned out:
1) Adjustments. Philly did a better job of moving personnel around and not just dumping-and-chasing the puck. Coach Craig Berube, partly due to the deficit, partly to get him going and partially to force the Rangers hand, shifted Claude Giroux around to various lines, which made coach Alain Vigneault decide who McDonagh and Girardi would match up against. Would it be Giroux or Hartnell/Voracek with a different center? In addition, I thought was much stronger on-and-off the puck than they were Tuesday.
2) The Absence of Steve Mason. The Rangers two goals - by Martin St. Louis at even strength and Benoit Pouliot - came as a result of good puck movement, forcing the defense and Ray Emery to move side-to-side, creating an open net. After that, while the Rangers did generate chances, they did not do a good job of making Emery move from side-to-side. Emery was the difference in the game, especially in the second, when he stoned NY. The Rangers had opportunities, including Rick Nash in front of the net after a turnover, where I think if he went glove-side, he beats Emery, but he went stick side. Same later on, when Derek Stepan, on the one play where they did make Emery move and I thought Emery got a piece of the puck and it hit the post. In the third, Zuccarello might have been able to beat Emery high to the stick-side, but didn't get it high enough and Emery made a good save.
3) Rangers vs. Philly Top Line. As mentioned above, Berube did move Giroux around, but he saw a good portion of his time with his usual linemates, They created pressure, including scoring the first goal, but for the most, the Rangers played them well. That said, I felt the effort level by the Flyers' trio was much higher than in Game 1 and they were able to impose their will at times throughout the game. That goal by Voracek changed the whole game. Emery made a save, not a good one on Pouliot, failing to catch and pushing the puck forward. Giroux got it to Hartnell, who put it up the ice near the boards, where Voracek caught McDonagh pinching and got a step on him. This was the first of two bad Dan Girardi mistakes. Granted, the forwards didn't come back as quickly as they could, but G had the angle on Voracek and could have cut him off. Instead, he stayed with the player in the slot, enabling Voracek to power to the net and beat Lundqvist with a beautiful goal. I will get to the second mistake later, which allowed Philly to tie the game.
4) Stay Disciplined. For the most part the Rangers did. Philly came out aggressive and took the first two penalties of the game. The Rangers took two of the next three, neither of which were due to not playing with discipline, but it came back to haunt them. We discussed the need to stay out of the box and not let Philly get on the PP. NY killed the first short-handed opportunity, but the second, due to Anton Stralman's interference penalty in front of the net on Hartnell, came back to haunt them. Philly controlled the puck but the Rangers killed the first 90 seconds of it. Girardi had an open chance to clear the puck down. Instead, it went high off the boards and over the glass, forcing the draw back in the Rangers zone. Philly won, maintained possession, and after a shot hot a body in front of the net, it came to Jason Akeson, who got redemption for his Game 1 penalty by blasting the puck into a yawning net and tie the game. Girardi did make a good play breaking up a possible 3-on-1 in the third, but those two mistakes were huge.
NY then feel prey to Philly's style of play. They received two embellishment calls, one of Zucc, that was borderline at best, and one of Derek Dorsett, occurring after he hit a Flyer a tad late and Wayne Simmonds did cross-check him. I had the dual-calls, either it's a penalty on one or not, but calling both the penalty on one team and then embellishment seems a bit much. The one of Dorsett seemed ricky-tacky, but the call was made and won't be changed. That second one came after a delayed penalty on NY for a silly hit by Pouliot which resulted in the game-winner by Luke Schenn. Philly brought the puck up ice, the Rangers were in good shape, but Derick Brassard and Zucc failed to get Luke Schenn coming down the slot. Schenn got the big rebound and beat Lundqvist from he slot. I thought Hank could have had better rebound control on that one but overall, he was pretty solid, though that goal proved to be the backbreaker.
The last undisciplined play came at the end of the game. Lundqvist started towards the bench and was banging his stick. The problem was NY didn't have full possession, so until then, the skater should not come off the bench or Lundqvist has to come all the way. Neither happened, so it ended that Brad Richards came on, Lundqvist didn't come off and the Rangers got called for a silly and stupid too many on the ice penalty. The end result was a great, empty-net goal by Simmonds on a superb one-man effort to retain possession of the puck and sent it down ice for the game-clincher.
5) Jesper Fast, Fairly invisible. No real impact, but that whole line didn't too much. Richards and Carl Hagelin, other than Hagelin's penalty on Nicklas Grossman when trying to get past him, didn't show up on the scoresheet. That line has to be better in Game 3, as do most of the Rangers.
New York had a 2-0 lead and all the momentum. They allowed Philly to get back in the game and failed to match the Flyers' intensity. Philly limited traffic in front of Emery, prevented NY from gaining clear advantage through the neutral zone after the two goals and then turned the tide in their offensive zone by getting their forecheck going. The Rangers failed to use their speed and passing ability but give the Flyers credit for controlling play. Now the teams head back to Philly even at 1 with momentum on the Flyers' side, especially since they now have home-ice advantage, We knew the series wouldn't be easy and after today, that clearly is the case.
Schedule
No. 3 Flyers vs. No. 2 Rangers (Metro Division) first-round schedule Game 1: Rangers 4 Flyers 1, Thurs., April 17 Game 2: Flyers 4 Rangers 2, Sun., April 20 Game 3: Rangers at Flyers, Tue., April 22 at 8 p.m. (CSN, TSN) Game 4: Rangers at Flyers, Fri., April 25 at 7 p.m. (CSN, TSN) Game 5*: Flyers at Rangers, Sun., April 27 at 12 p.m. (NBC, CSN) Game 6*: Rangers at Flyers, Tue., April 29 at TBD Game 7*: Flyers at Rangers, Thurs., April 30 at TBD
As a reminder, Ed (tapout632) will be writing a Game 3 preview blog with me out for the last two days of the holiday and it will be posted by HB admin on Tuesday.