What went wrong?
@RNYRF Staff Report
Were the Rangers relying too much on the return of their Captain Ryan McDonagh to propell them into an easy win on home ice? Possibly. Did changing up the defense that brutalized Pittsburgh with the body check give the Penguins a chance at taking Game 3 at MSG? Another possibility.
The Rangers loss came down to a few things, puck management was huge factor once again. When the Rangers had the chances instead of focusing on Matt Murray and getting one past the Pens goalie in his first playoff game they were looking to make the "pretty" play once again. They did the same thing against Zatkoff in Game 1 and had the same result. Only having 17 shots on goal the entire game during the playoffs is unacceptable, especially in the 3rd period where they only had 4 shots on goal.
The overturned power play goal by Chris Kreider seemed to have taken any energy the Rangers had up to that point away. After that point it seemed as though they just couldn't connect on passes and put any plays into a cohesive pressure in the Penguins zone. Except for the short handed goal by Rick Nash, special teams looked over matched, going 1 for 3 on the penalty kill and a miserable 0 for 4 on the power play. What little momentum the Rangers had in the 2nd after Nash's goal died when they once again gave up a last minute goal, a problem that has plagued them all season. Bottom line, the Rangers couldn't gather any offensive zone pressure for most of the game. Any chances were one and done, rebounds needed to be taken advantage of and without anyone in front of the net it's not going to happen. When the Rangers get behind in games like this they certainly need to start playing in desperation mode, last night they didn't. Do the Rangers still have a chance at winning this series and moving on to Round 2? Yes they do, but they need to step up their game like they did in Game 2 and take the Pens off their game.
New York Rangers Birthday
Defenseman #6 Dylan McIlrath
TODAY IN NYR HISTORY APRIL 20
1997: Wayne Gretzky scores his first playoff goal as a Ranger and Mike Richter makes 31 saves in a 3-0 shutout of the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
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