It’s Game Two of the playoffs as the New York Rangers look to shake off the triple overtime loss on Tuesday night. It’s almost a must win game as they don’t want to head to Pittsburgh down 2-0. The important thing to remember is that it’s a best-of-seven series and nothing is easy. The Rangers have proven all season that they are a team that can come back from adversity and this is only another opportunity to do that.
The team had the day off from skating on Wednesday, but they did spend some time looking back at the game and on what went right and what went wrong.
The best news was that Gallant said that Igor Shesterkin was fine and showed no ill effects from facing 83 shots and playing almost five hours of hockey. He also said that Ryan Lindgren would be in the lineup and was just “banged up.”
Gallant spoke about the loss. “It was a battle last night, we came out on the short end of the stick, but it’s one game and you gotta move on. No big deal, we would have loved to win it but you gotta battle back and win the next one.”
When asked what he wants to see from the team in Game Two it was a one word answer. “Consistency…play that heavy game for 60 minutes. You can’t play it for 25 and expect success from that. We did a lot of good things for the first 25…after that they took over a bit. We just got away from doing the good things that we done for whatever reason, it happens.” He added “It shouldn’t be that much of a difference. Being excellent for 25 minutes and then being not so good.”
Gallant did talk about the Rangers’ propensity for passing up good shots. He spoke particularly about an Adam Fox rush when he didn’t shoot and passed to Ryan Strome who couldn’t get the shot off. “Foxie’s walking down the gut there and you have a great chance to shoot the puck, you know that if Stromer doesn’t get handcuffed a bit he’s got a wide open net.” But Gallant won’t criticize his players saying, “I’m not going to tell those players not to make those plays. They’re skilled and they’re talented and they gotta make those plays. As a coach you say shoot… but that’s the plays they work on in practice…Foxie, you’re a helluva player and keep doing what you’re doing.”
While Gallant may say that, you can be sure when they look at videos, it’s obvious that they will point out when plays don’t work and golden opportunities are passed up.
Fox spoke to the media and didn’t address the topic of shooting the puck, but did talk about what the Rangers need to do to win, acknowledging that their game changed after 25 minutes.
“That first period we were real good, even at the start of the second. The tide kind of turned there. We let the game get away from us there…25 something shots in the second period. It’s tough to hold the lead when you’re giving up that many shots, that many chances.” He explained how it happened. “They started using their speed, opening up the ice a bit. We kind of got away from keeping it simple, we were trying to make too many plays in the neutral zone and not finishing their guys and letting them kind of do what they want in the neutral zone.”
That’s exactly what Gallant said. “It’s about playing fast, staying in the offensive zone and getting more game there. Once we start letting them go D to D and across the ice then the game opened up and that’s not the way we want to play. We just have to be more quicker on the forecheck…puck management hurt us halfway through the second instead of driving the net and getting pucks behind their defensemen. We started making plays in the high slot and they were broken up and they start going the other way.”
Lineup notes
As mentioned, Gallant said that Ryan Lindgren was banged up and he “will be out there tomorrow.” No other Rangers look to be under the weather. Barclay Goodrow was in pain during the game after blocking a shot, but the team looks pretty healthy.
As for the Penguins, both Casey DeSmith and Rickard Rakell are “day to day” and did not participate in the optional skate on Wednesday.
The Penguins called up goalie Alex D’Orio from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in case DeSmith cannot play and they have to use Louis Domingue.
Jason Zucker has been out with an injury, but could play tonight, replacing Rakell in the lineup. If Zucker cannot go, it’s likely to be Drew O’Connor.
That disallowed goal (one more time)
This goal will be discussed for years especially if the Rangers lose this series, but to revisit it one more time, here goes. First, here’s the Penguins’ home team announcers talking about the goal.
@DonLagreca I’m sorry but you are dead wrong and please go an listen to the Penguins own announcers knew it was clearly a goal all you need to ask yourself is would Kakko have hit the goalie if doumolin wasn’t there?
— M | G 🏒⚾️🗽🇺🇸 (@Pinstripe_Mike) May 4, 2022
The answer is no = good goal, game over pic.twitter.com/PuWhuio8f6
The Pittsburgh announcers believed that Dumoulin had forced Kakko into DeSmith and that the goal should count.
Furthermore, it’s important to note that it was Dumoulin who forced DeSmith out of position as it was mostly the Penguins defenseman who was in contact with the goalie and pushed him out of the crease, allowing the wide open net for Filip Chytil to shoot into. If Kakko had been the one who scored, his interfering with the goalie would be an issue, but since it was mostly Dumoulin who forced DeSmith out of the crease the question has to be did Kakko’s contact with DeSmith result in the open net?
Since the call on the ice was a good goal, the proof had to be that irrefutably it was Kakko who forced DeSmith out of position. It sure looks like it was Dumoulin’s momentum that did it.
What’s done is done, but in this case there are a lot of questions about how and why they made the decision. The NHL does a good job explaining suspensions in a video, perhaps the should do the same with these kind of important decisions.
An anniversary to remember
It was one year ago today that the Rangers fired John Davidson and Jeff Gorton, setting in motion the changes that resulted in the the team being in the playoffs today. It was also the same day that the Rangers challenged the Capitals in retaliation for the Tom Wilson incident, setting an NHL record with six fights in the first five minutes of the game. It’s worth noting that of the six Rangers who fought, only Kevin Rooney and Ryan Strome are still with the team.
Remembering how last season ended, it’s remarkable to see what has happened in the last 365 days. One year ago on this date the team as in disarray, physically humiliated and embarrassed. Now they are preparing for their second playoff game, regarded as one of the best teams in the league. Perspective.