Win or skate home. The New York Rangers must beat the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday to avoid elimination.
It’s as simple as that for the Blueshirts, who lost 4-1 in Game Two of their Qualifying Round series on Monday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Game Three is Tuesday at 8 p.m. The New York Rangers, down 2-0, must win to avoid elimination.
The odds don’t look good for the Rangers as teams with a 2-0 lead in best-of-five playoff series are 55-1, according to NHL.com.
“We have to get a good night’s sleep, get up and get ready,” Rangers defenseman Marc Staal said on MSG Network’s postgame. “That’s all we can do.”
What they must do is find a way to slow down Carolina’s top line of Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, and Teuvo Teravainen. Svechnikov scored his first NHL hat trick, while Aho assisted on all three goals.
“Between now and (Tuesday) night at eight o’clock, we have to learn that we can’t keep shooting ourselves in the foot,” head coach David Quinn said.
“Our lack of patience is killing us right now. Is it better than it was the other night? Yeah, it was. But we’re not here to get incrementally better, we’re here to win hockey games. We’re not doing enough. We need everybody in that room to work a little bit harder, be a little more patient, win more wall battles — all these things add up.”
Through two games of the series, Carolina’s top players have outplayed New York’s.
The 20-year-old Svechnikov, the second overall pick in the 2018 Entry Draft, has four points, while Aho has five (four helpers) and Teravainen has one assist. On defense, Sami Vatanen (three assists) and Jaccob Slavin (two points) have stepped up in the absence of sidelined standout blueliners Dougie Hamilton and Brett Pesce.
Meanwhile, Artemi Panarin has two points, including a power-play goal on Monday that tied the game at 1. This after finishing tied for third in points in the NHL with 95 points. Mika Zibanejad, who led the Rangers with 41 goals in the regular season, scored in the first game but was held scoreless in the second.
Ryan Strome, who posted career highs in points (59), assists (41) and power-play goals (17), has one assist. Chris Kreider, who scored 24 times and signed a seven-year $45.5 million contract extension last season, also has just one apple. Pavel Buchnevich, who posted a career-best 46 points, has yet to record a point.
“Our top-six forwards have to be better,” Quinn said. “If you’re going to win, your best players have to outplay their best players. That’s certainly something we’ll have to have (Tuesday) night.”
Quinn credited Carolina (deservedly so) for getting the early lead and doing what it does best: clog the middle and use its speed to take away time and space.