Rangers need adjustments to avoid a 2015 deja vu

The New York Rangers are in deja vu, here we go again, stop me if you heard this one land. Tied two games a piece in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Rangers hold home ice advantage for the pivotal game five and for game seven, if needed. In this previous incarnation that jolts the history repeats itself part of the brain, the Rangers did not fair very well. That version took place in 2015 when the Lightning shut out the Rangers 2-0 in both games five and seven to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

Have the New York Rangers found a glitch in the Matrix?

The scary part is that in both the 2015 and the 2022 versions of this story, the series boils down to two common denominators. The first is Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. Headed into that 2015 Game Five, Coach Cooper reminded his Lightning team that they defined themselves not how much they scored, but by how little they gave up. That reminder seems to still be in effect as the Lightning have made the necessary adjustments to limit the Rangers previously potent offense.

Including their six goal outburst in game one, the Rangers had scored four or more goals in nine of their 15 games to that point. In the three games since, they have scored a total of six goals and have not scored an even strength goal in the last 138:39 minutes of game play.  To say that Cooper’s adjustments have been effective is an understatement. But the adjustments are made even more effective due to scary part number two, the New York Rangers stubbornness.

Coach Cooper has effectively eliminated the Rangers east west passing, their long outlet pass, and their speed through the neutral zone. In doing so he has increased the potency of his teams transitional attack and subsequently found holes in the Rangers defense as a result. Yet, in two straight games in which the Rangers have produced nothing at even strength, the team, especially the top six, continue to play their primarily east west and beat you off the rush games.

If the Rangers lose this series, it will be in part a self fulfilling prophecy of sticking to what got us here. That is all well and good, but in a series against a master tactician like Cooper, adjustments must be made. Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant is not shy about switching up his lines and trying new combinations to try and spark something. But he has yet to find a way to get the players to adapt their game to team they are playing.

Give them nothing, take from them everything

Rangers need to get back to basics to regain the momentum of this series. They need to play a simpler dump and chase game, use their speed to get in on a forecheck to force mistakes. This can turn the tables and beat the Lightning at their own transition game. Doing so opens the east west, cross seam passes the Rangers love so much.  In the defensive zone, return to what worked against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Lightning will press, so short, quick passes to trap their F1 forward and open lanes for give and go passes up the ice. This moves the team up the ice with speed and eliminates the need of the 100 foot outlet pass that is constantly being picked off.

Gallant has been a revelation for the Rangers this season. He is a players’ coach who has gotten results based off of the trust he and the players share. But if he is unable to adjust or get the players to augment their on ice performance, this series will be lost, much in the same way Alain Vigneault allowed 2015 to slip away. However, if he can harness the trust that has been built since September and garner some extra buy in, this team still has path to glory ahead of them.