BROADWAY BLUES
RANGERS FLATTENED AT HOME — AGAIN — IN GAME 3
For most of Sunday night, the sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden was silent. By the third period, the home team would have signed up for that.
The Rangers’ power-play struggles continued in Game 3’s 3-1 loss to the Canadiens, turning the crowd against them after the unit failed to score on three attempts, leading Montreal to take a 2-1 series lead.
The Rangers are now 0-for-10 on the power play in the series.
“We’re definitely fighting it a little bit, to say the least,” captain Ryan McDonagh said. “If it’s not going well, we really need to simplify here, make one or two passes and look to get it to the net. We are looking to extend our plays a little bit too much and it’s costing us scoring opportunities.”
Ranked 11th in the league on power plays this season (20.2 percent), the Rangers led the NHL in powerplay efficiency over their final 15 regular-season games, going 13-for-38 (34.2 percent), but the opportunities in this series have only sapped momentum and crushed confidence.
All night, the Rangers had no offense and no energy, mounting an uninspired attack built on dumping and chasing and hoping. Still, they had chances to take control of the first-round series, but were unable to present a serious threat to Montreal goaltender Carey Price during two first-period power plays. The problem? “At this point it doesn’t matter,” J.T. Miller said. “Put the puck in the back of the net. We need to find a way to score when it counts. We need to find a way — we talk about it all the time — to at least create some momentum for our team.”
Momentum appeared impossible to attain by the third period, and by then, the Rangers would have been better off playing another game in Montreal.
After the Canadiens took a 2-0 lead — scoring on two power-play goals after failing on their first seven attempts of the series — the Rangers received a great chance to cut the deficit after Artturi Lehkonen was called for interference with 10:50 remaining.
Instead, the Rangers struggled to hold possession of the puck, and repeatedly had problems even entering Montreal’s zone. A chorus of boos followed each gaffe, growing louder with each failure.
The frustration was more evident in the locker room.
“When the power play comes around in the third, maybe change the tide and get the building going again, and get the team going again,” Miller said. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be a goal, but we have to be better and sharper and execute much better than we did.”