4 things Rangers must do in Game 5 if they are to live to see another day

Crosby must be stopped

This was mentioned in a similar piece prior to Monday’s Game Four, but it is worth repeating – the Rangers need to do a better job of containing Sidney Crosby.

The Penguins Captain has seemingly drank from the fountain of youth having rediscovered his prime, playing like the Crosby of 2007-10 when he really was at the peak of his powers.

Crosby leads Pittsburgh with nine points (two goals, seven assists) in four games and he’s combined with linemates Jake Guentzel (five goals, one assist) and Bryan Rust (one goal, four assists) for 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists), with 17 of those points (six goals, 11 assists) coming at even-strength.

Furthermore, that line that is so superbly spearheaded by Crosby had a 92.8 percent expected goals rate in a dominating Game Four performance, while they’ve controlled roughly 81.6 percent of the expected goals share over the first four games of the series.

Crosby has elevated his game in the postseason and not only is he making an impact on the stats sheet, but he’s also proving a factor all over the ice in terms of making big plays in the defensive zone, creating space for others and just having the innate ability to make plays happen out of nothing.

He’s also winning 55.7 percent of his face-offs and he’s winning offensive-zone draws at key periods of the game. Crosby has also proven that he can generate offense in transition, sustain zone time and generate cycle chances with the forward having five slot attempts off the cycle.

Put it simply; Crosby has proved unstoppable so far and the Rangers may need to try something different in order to stop him and that lethal Pittsburgh top line if they are to win Game Five and extend the series.

Taking Mika Zibanejad off Crosby given that matchup hasn’t worked may well be the answer, especially given that it would free Zibanejad up offensively (more on that later). However, the simple answer may be that the Rangers may just have to be content with limiting the damage caused by Crosby given that the three-time Stanley Cup Champion seems almost unplayable right now.

Doing a better job in-front of Shesterkin

Much has been made of Igor Shesterkin’s struggles in the last two games of this series, with the newly-announced Vezina Trophy finalist pulled in both games.

He allowed 10 goals on 48 shots in the two games combined for an ugly .792 save percentage, with the Pittsburgh crowd getting after the young goaltender.

However, it would be lazy to just blame Shesterkin for what has happened in the past two games, and instead you really need to dive deep into the numbers.

For starters, Shesterkin stopped 118 of the 124 shots he faced in the first two games of the series, and you don’t fall off a cliff that badly just like that overnight.

Instead, it isn’t hard to pinpoint why the goalie has been shelled recently with the Rangers defense surrounding 16 shots on goal and 12 high-danger scoring chances in the second period of Game 4 alone.

That isn’t protecting your goaltender.

Furthermore, the Rangers rank 16th in Expected Goals Against (5.37), 16th in Scoring Chances Allowed (34.8), 16th in Slot Shots Allowed (21.3), 16th in Slot Passes Allowed (24.3) and 16th in Rush Chances Allowed (9.5).

Even some of the game’s all-time great Hall of Fame goaltenders would have trouble keeping the puck out of the net with traffic like that in-front of them, so Shesterkin should be near the bottom of the list when it comes to who should be blamed for what has transpired recently.

Are there goals he would want back? Absolutely, but there is no doubt that the Rangers must play much better in-front of their goalie if they are to come back in this series.

If the amount of traffic to the net is reduced and the Rangers can prevent the Penguins from having so much success in the slot and with high-danger chances, then there is no doubt that Shesterkin will be able to bounce back and steal a much-needed win for his team.

Top-line players have to perform

The MSG broadcast, which is excellent by the way, always does a ‘New York Rangers Doing More Player of the Week.’

While that generally celebrates a player who has been on a torrid run, based on this series so far, that feature should instead focus on players who have yet to really deliver.

And, in the Rangers case, there’s quite a few names who need to do a hell of a lot more in Game Five against the Penguins.

Heading into tonight, Artemi Panarin leads the Rangers in playoff points with five (two goals, three assists), while four players have four points each.

That includes Mika Zibanejad who has yet to light the lamp this series, while he’s got just one point on the power play too. It has become clear that the forward has become too weighed down by his battle with Sidney Crosby, a war that the Penguins Captain is winning emphatically on all fronts.

Chris Kreider has four points (two goals, two assists) but hasn’t been able to impact games like he did in the regular season, and he hasn’t been able to utilize his net-front presence nearly as much as would have been hoped.

Adam Fox, who also has four points (two goals, two assists) also hasn’t had much of an impact offensively due to the fact he’s been too consumed by the Pittsburgh offense, and the lack of production by the big hitters on this team has probably been the biggest flaw and downfall.

Consider that Crosby leads the Penguins with nine points (two goals, seven assists) and four Pittsburgh players in total have contributed five or more points this series, then that tale of the tape is pretty emphatic when telling the story of where this series is being won or lost.

With tonight’s game truly do-or-die, there is no getting away from the fact that the Rangers have to get big-time performances from their star players when they need them the most in the biggest moments, or else face some pretty big regrets and questions on Thursday morning.