Igor needs to stop punching people when they come into his crease, because it's not deterring anyone from doing it in the future, and it's accomplishing exactly what the opposition wants by doing it in the first place. As soon as tampa or florida start doing that shiz and igor responds, there's a scrum, emotions get heated, and tampa and florida just take over the game afterwards because they've dragged the opponent into playing their game. They'll do anything to get themselves pissed off and into a death match of a game, which is why they're so damn good and true winners in the playoffs. You could tell Tampa neeeeeeded that game, even if they didn't desperately need it in the standings. They convinced themselves that they did, and were able to elevate their game.
This is what I worry about our team - when we're up 2-0, 3-1, etc. (in games or in series), how do we manage to elevate our game THEN. Not when it's truly desperation time in game 7s, but when we're up and can put a team away.
All that being said, obviously I agree with the out of gas assessment and it was obvious that we let them back in the game with the turnovers and brief absences. Games like this worry me though, because I've seen this crap for years in big games when it matters most.
- t-dawg
Great point.
I'm just reading Messier's interview on nhl.com (about the Rangers being a true contender this year) and had to copy in part of what he's talking about:
"Going into the playoffs, I always looked at how we were going to destroy four teams' will to win. … Do we have a team that can destroy the will of four teams over two months? That's the question that I ask when I look at a team and how it's constructed."
I've watched the NHL playoffs, I mean as much as I can take in, not just NY, for at least 40 years and I've never heard of the playoffs thought of this way, not had the thought myself. This is exactly the mindset our guys need to develop. Not just "How can we be at our best?" But, "How do we make sure they are not at their best?"
