It’s the playoffs, what did you expect?

New York Rangers fans have forgotten what the playoffs are like.  After five long years, we are back on the roller coaster ride known as the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  The playoffs are unlike anything else is sports and our beloved Blueshirts are giving us the full treatment.

The most important thing for the maintenance of sanity for Ranger fans is to react rationally to the twists and turns of the playoffs.  It’s a best-of-seven series, not a one-game elimination.  There will be incredible emotional highs and devastating lows.  What’s been unusual is we have seen those highs and lows in each individual game.

First off, the Rangers are down 2-1 in a seven game series.  Three of the top seeds are ahead in their series and that will be two in a few hours.  The only top seed in the playoffs running away with their series are the Colorado Avalanche who are up 3-0 over the Predators. The Oilers have a 2-1 lead in their series with Los Angeles.  That’s it for the top seeds.

Tampa is about to tie up their series with Toronto at two games apiece, leading 5-0 in the second period.   The Bruins have knotted their series with the Hurricanes at two games apiece while the Blues and Wild are tied at two as well. Meanwhile, the Rangers, Panthers and Flames are down 2-1.   That’s as of early Sunday evening.

If fans of the second place Rangers are nervous, think about your counterparts in Florida and Calgary, their first place teams are trailing.

Sure, Game Four is almost a must win for the Blueshirts.  They certainly don’t want to fall behind 3-1 in the series, but ponder this.  The last four series the Rangers have trailed 3-1, they have come back to win twice.   Those kind of comebacks used to be unheard of,  but they are happening more often.  It’s happened 10 times in the last 13 years compared to 20 times in the 67 years before that.   And the Penguins have blown 3-1 leads three times, second most behind the Capitals who have done it five times.

At any rate, the hunt for reasons the Rangers are trailing goes on.

Speaking of Igor

When Igor Shesterkin has a bad game, it’s noticeable, but this wasn’t the first time this has happened.  During the regular season, he gave up five goals in a 5-1 loss to Calgary in October.   Less than two weeks later he gave up six goals again to Calgary.

He gave up four goals in a game three times this season.  In his 47 other starts, he held the opposition to three goals or fewer.   What’s important is what he did after those two Calgary games.  After the first game, he shut out the Columbus Blue Jackets.  After the second game, he beat the high powered Florida Panthers 4-3.

Today, Gallant was asked if he senses that Shesterkin was off his game. “I think the first two goals were real lucky and the crowd was going crazy and everything was going.  It just went against us. There were some lucky bounces and breaks and I though at 4-1 why not shake something up.”

Gallant’s expectations for Monday?  “I expect him to be outstanding. It’s a one-off, that stuff happens like that.  Again, nobodies blaming him…our team was dominated in the first period…it’s nothing on Igor. It was two lucky goals the first two and away we go.”

Of course, everyone is looking for issues and the speculation that he was still tired from the triple overtime and that he has never played as many games is pretty baseless.  He had a bad period helped by no puck luck.

Let’s look at that first period.

That first period

If you want to determine what went wrong in the first period, it isn’t difficult.  While Gallant blamed bad luck the reality is that it was a combination of a dumb play, bad luck and some excellent checking.

On the first goal, Patrik Nemeth made a god awful play.

Brock McGinn was as lucky as Artemi Panarin was on his goal in Game Two.  He had the puck behind the net and was trying to center it.  It hit Nemeth who inexplicably was hugging the post and preventing Shesterkin from doing the same.  There’s no way of knowing what Nemeth was thinking backing into the net like that. but it was a costly move.

The second goal, that came three minutes after Kaapo Kakko had tied the score, came on the power play after an incredibly soft holding penalty on Justin Braun, but it was a good goal.

Jeff Carter set an excellent screen and got the deflection that Shesterkin stopped partially.  Was he hampered by Carter who was in contact with him as the puck was shot?  Maybe, but it was a good power play goal.

The third goal, just over two minutes later was another power play goal.

That goal was the definition of a lucky bounce. Evan Rodrigues took the shot, missing the net only for the puck to rebound off the boards where it was missed by Jeff Carter, K’Andre Miller and Danton Heinen to go right to Rodrigues who put the puck past Shesterkin. Rodrigues was in the right place at the right time.

The Rangers might have learned something about the lively boards at PPG Paints Arena as well.  It wasn’t the first time in the game that a puck off the boards didn’t act like it does at the Garden.

The fourth and final goal of the period, scored with just under five minutes to go, was from a mistake by Braden Schneider.

He was stripped of the puck by Brian Boyle who made the pass the Rodrigues who was open in the slot.   If you look at the replay, Dryden Hunt comes back as Schneider is checked, but decides to pursue Boyle and leaves Rodrigues uncovered for the shot with Nemeth screening Shesterkin.

Should Shesterkin have had that shot?  Probably, but Schneider has his pocket picked and then Hunt didn’t check the player who took the shot.   In the end it was just a really good play by Brian Boyle that compounded Ranger errors in their own zone.

So, four goals in 13 minutes 18 seconds.  Did it feel familiar?  Remember when the Rangers scored three goals in 129 seconds against Pittsburgh in March?   It happens.

Coming back

Rangers fans should take solace in the team’s ability to bounce back after losses.  They played 41 games on the road this season and lost two road games in a row in regulation only once this season, back-to-back losses to Minnesota and St. Louis in March and   They also lost two consecutive games in overtime against Vancouver and Edmonton in November and followed that by a loss in Calgary.

The four other losses on road trips were followed by wins in the next game.

This may sound like wishful thinking, but it is true. The Rangers are a disallowed goal and a successful power play from leading in this series 3-0.  There will be ups and downs in a playoff game.

As Gerard Gallant said, “It’s not just with us. It’s around the league…Florida Panthers are a great team, you see the same thing from them. Sometimes it’s hard to change momentum, you do the best you can. If it was just our team, I’d say ‘what’s going on’ but we watch ever night, momentum change swings the game sometimes.  We changed in the second period.  You want to play 60 minutes, but there’s another team across the way that wants to do the same thing.”

Let’s see how the puck bounces Monday.