Another Game 2 at home for the New York Rangers, and another Game 2 loss at home. Rangers now have only won one Game 2 at home in the last two decades.
In Round 2 vs. the Washington Capitals, the New York Rangers finally saw themselves win a Game 2 at home. This was the first time the Rangers have done this in two decades, when they won Game 2 at home in the Stanley Cup Final vs. the
Vancouver Canucks in 1994. A year that every Rangers’ fan loves since 1994 was the last time the Rangers hoisted Lord Stanley’s Cup.
New York Rangers
So with the Rangers finally breaking that long streak in their last series, maybe they could now start a Game 2 streak at home that they can be proud of. A winning streak. But, of course, this was once again not meant to be, and last night’s Game 2 was nothing short of embarrassing for the Rangers.
Believe it or not, last night’s Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning, at Madison Square Garden, was actually only a one goal game going into the 3rd period. After 2, the Rangers only trailed the Lightning by a 3-2 score and there looked to be some hope on the horizon as the Rangers seemed to dominate the latter stage of the 2nd period. One would only figure that the Rangers would carry this momentum onto the 3rd period but if you did then you thought horribly wrong.
The Lightning came out of the locker room and completely dominated the 3rd period, scoring 3 unanswered goals, blowing out the Rangers on their home ice by a 6-2 final score.
I don’t know what it is with Game 2s at home, but the Rangers are simply horrible at them.
But while some will say that this was just a typical Game 2 at home for the Rangers and that they will be fine for the rest of this series, I on the other hand am not so sure about that.
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The Lightning played the Rangers in Game 2 last night like they did throughout the entire regular season. The Rangers won Game 1 mostly because the Lightning looked very flat throughout the game but now with the Bolts finding their game last night and exposing many Rangers’ weaknesses, I am not sure the Rangers can recover.
So you can say that this was just another Rangers’ Game 2 loss at home but I think it was much more than that. I feel last night’s embarrassing loss was unfortunately a huge turning point in this series, obviously favoring the Lightning.
I can only hope I am wrong.
Next: New York Rangers Lit Up By Lightning Storm In Loss
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