Rangers come back but fall short in roller coaster game

This game was an emotional roller coaster.  The New York Rangers saw their goalie torched for four early goals.  Their penalty kill was burned twice in the first period. The Penguins scored four first period goals and Sidney Crosby didn’t touch the puck on any of the four goals.

The Rangers than came back from a 4-1 deficit to tie the game on goals by Frank Vatrano, Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp.   The tying goal came shorthanded on a great effort by Kevin Rooney.   Then,  with the Penguins on their heels, the Rangers vaunted power play was stopped on three consecutive opportunities.

That set up the ultimate disappointment when Danton Heinen scored on a stoppable shot after miscues in the Rangers end by Patrik Nemeth and Mika Zibanejad.  The comeback was great, but the outcome was disastrous.  The final score was 7-4 as Pittsburgh piled on with two empty net goals.

Coach Gerard Gallant was predictably upbeat despite the score. “We got behind obviously, and had a lot of trouble. I’m proud of our team.  We bounced back and played hard the rest of the game.  It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way she goes.  We’ll get back at them next game.”

There will be a lot to argue about when revisiting this game.  A puck into a dislodged net was twice called no goal by the on-ice officials even after they looked at video only for the situation room in Toronto to overrule them.

For the second game in a row the Rangers were called for a soft penalty early in the game. Unlike in Game Two, the Penguins scored.

Gerard Gallant made the call to pull Igor Shesterkin at the start of the second period.  Alexandar Georgiev did well,but was the victim of the winning goal, one that he would have wanted back.  He didn’t get any help from his teammates who lost possession on the play when they were in control of the puck.

Gallant explained pulling Shesterkin. “You look at it and say, two of them were lucky bounces.  It’s 4-1, you want to change momentum a little bit sometimes.  Igor’s been outstanding, you look at it right now and he’s played 10 periods in the last four and a half, five days.  I thought I’d give him a little rest and it would spark out team and it worked.”

Trailing by a goal, Gallant pulled Georgiev with 2:24 minutes left.  The Penguins quickly converted as Jake Guentzel scored into the empty net.   At the time it felt like it was a little early for the goalie to be pulled.  The Penguins ended up scoring twice for a final score of 7-4.

This will go down as one of the stranger playoffs games in franchise history.  The Rangers played poorly in the first period, but the Penguins scored on every possible opportunity.  The first period alone was one of the weirdest periods of hockey this entire season.  The crowd was taunting Shesterkin from the opening faceoff with an “Igor” chant that was just bizarre. Evan Rodrigues scored off a missed shot that bounced off the backboards right to him for an open shot.

The second period  might have been the most dominant period of the season and Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said it was the worst period played by Pittsburgh in the playoffs. Pittsburgh almost scored an own goal when they pulled Louis Domingue on a delayed penalty and when the Penguins sent the puck out of the attacking zone, it missed going into their own open net by just two inches.

The third period was evenly matched, but it was a turnover that led to the winning goal.

The bottom line is the Rangers have gotten away from playing the kind of hockey that they played the last two months of the season.  They have strayed from a defensively focused, low scoring team into a group that plays a more of a wide open style that leaves them vulnerable to counter punches from the Penguins.

It’s time the team remembered how they beat the Penguins in those three regular season games and held them to only goal in their only loss. They are still bleeding shots and are trying to trade scoring chances with Pittsburgh.  It’s not the way to win in the playoffs.  While the second period was glorious, if they are determined to play that way it could be disastrous.

Chris Kreider knows.  After the game he said  “I don’t think we’re playing together…it’s a matter of working smart, not just hard…Obviously liked the response, but there have been moments over the course of the year that we’ve put ourselves in positions like that and have been able to claw back, but that’s not something you can do in the playoffs.”

When asked what the difference was in the second period, Kreider said “We started playing together….started connecting the dots, established a forecheck , started working smart, not just hard. The easiest way to play defense is to make them play defense, rolling forward, get in on them, force turnovers, force the offense. It’s something we need to do for a full 60.”

If the Rangers do that, they are unstoppable.  They just forget to do it and that’s when they get in trouble.  Unfortunately, that kind of trouble in a best of seven game series can be fatal.  Monday night has become a must win game for the Blueshirts.