No Quit In New York is a slogan that has been created and used by the New York Rangers for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and it is one they must now actually buy into themselves.
Because, as we saw in Game Four, there has been plenty of quit in New York recently.
You know the story by now. After an ugly effort in a 7-2 beatdown by the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Four, the Rangers now stand on the cusp of elimination with Game Five at Madison Square Garden tonight.
Apart from a brilliant first period in Game One and the 5-2 win in Game Two, the Blueshirts have been taught lesson after lesson by a battle-hardened Penguins team, who are proving that experience counts in the postseason.
Sidney Crosby has seemingly stepped into a time machine, rediscovering the fountain of youth to return to the peak of his powers and put up nine points (two goals, seven assists) against the Rangers, with the Penguins top line absolutely dominant in this series.
Crosby’s resurgence has been one of the keys so far, but there is no getting away from the fact that the Rangers have been the masters of their own downfall too.
Goaltending, which was such a significant strength throughout the regular season, has disappeared in the last two games with Vezina Trophy finalist Igor Shesterkin not helped by a defense that has committed turnover after costly turnover.
Stars such as Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider need to do more, but the biggest and most glaring flaw has been the lack of heart and character shown by this team.
They showed some character in coming back from 4-1 down in Game Three but didn’t have the killer instinct to get the job done, while they collapsed like a cheap pack of cards in that ugly Game Four performance on Monday night.
Head Coach Gerard Gallant called his team “soft” in the wake of Game Four, and he wasn’t wrong given that the Rangers had no answers for a Penguins team that are chasing one more ring before their window firmly slams shut.
The kind of urgency and authority that this team played with down the stretch has gone missing, and the same Rangers that shut out Pittsburgh in April are nowhere to be seen, and that’s infuriating.
It is frustrating because they have proved that they can contain Crosby and that top line, they proved that they can get past the Penguins’ vast experience and they proved that they know how to win games.
However, the postseason is a different beast and the Blueshirts are finding that out the hard way right now.
But, no matter how tough it gets, there is no excuse for the Rangers to fall apart, not play as a team and forget everything that made the regular season such a resounding success, but yet that’s exactly what they did in Game 4.
With their backs against the wall, they failed the test and couldn’t execute the basics like get pucks in deep, get to the dirty areas, get pucks on net and, most importantly, play hard.
Back at Madison Square Garden where the home crowd will no doubt have a big role to play, these Rangers now have no excuses and they must leave everything out on the ice if they are to live to see another day.
In other words, they need to practice what they preach and prove that there really is No Quit In New York.