Blueshirts blowing it in big moments
REGARDING the Rangers, one of the best 58-minute playoff teams around: 1. You take a look at the five games of the series, you find that the Blueshirts have been in the lead for 180:12 and the Senators for 13:10, and you might be prone to wonder how on earth Ottawa has a 3-2 lead and can close out this Eastern Conference semifinal at the Garden on Tuesday night.
Except the explanation is obvious. The Senators have risen to the moment while the Rangers have shrunk from it. The Senators have thrived under pressure while the Rangers have cracked under it.
There is a palpable sense that given the chance, the Senators will find a way to win while given that same chance, the Rangers will find a way to lose.
Erik Karlsson made the difference with his pool shot in Game 1. The world’s greatest defenseman made the difference again in Saturday’s Game 5. His brilliant setup to Clarke MacArthur that triggered the commotion out of which Derick Brassard tied the score with 1:26 remaining in regulation before Kyle Turris won it in overtime.
Big players making big plays, and for whatever might be lacking in Brassard’s overall, two-way game on any given night, there is something special inside of No. 19 that transforms him into Big Game Brass in the most critical of moments. The Rangers benefited from his presence for four springs. Now the Senators are reaping the rewards of having him on their side.
And now, without exception, the Rangers must elevate Tuesday and then again Thursday if they earn the opportunity to play a Game 7 in order to avoid the least defensible playoff series defeat of the Henrik Lundqvist Era.
2. This of course starts with the goaltender himself, who seemed out of sorts for portions of the 5-4 Game 5 loss in which he was unable to handle the puck cleanly and was atypically aggressive and perhaps overheated in certain situations.
For the first time since the 1994 first-round series against the Islanders, the Rangers have scored four goals or more in four consecutive games within a series. But they only could get a split in them after going 14-3 the previous five years when scoring at least four in a game and 21-5 throughout Lundqvist’s career.
The goaltender is human. He has carried this team for years. If anyone is allowed, it is Lundqvist. Except that the Blueshirts and the King have depleted their allowance. The margin of error has evaporated. The extra day between games should benefit the 35-year-old goaltender. For the Rangers’ sake, it had better.
3. Derek Stepan is suffering through his worst playoff experience since his rookie 2011 baptism. The longer it continues, the shorter the Rangers can remain a viable postseason entity, for No. 21 is entrusted with every essential assignment.
Stepan has never been a dynamic player, but he has risen to the occasion. He has been a very important player on a very good team. But he has been a step behind and maybe even a thought behind throughout the tournament, hitting a nadir Saturday when he could not make a play, could not win a puck and was as much a liability as anyone in that five-on-six situation.
There were times late in the season when it appeared that Stepan succumbed to frustration as he endured that 23-game goal-scoring drought. The Rangers cannot afford that now. They need much more from their titular first-line center and they need it immediately.
4. It is unfortunate how J.T. Miller has been marginalized throughout the playoffs. Ditto for how unimposing Chris Kreider has been on a regular basis.
5. So in Game 2 in Montreal, when Tomas Plekanec scored at 19:42 of the third with Carey Price pulled, Marc Staal and Nick Holden comprised the defense pair. In Game 2 in Ottawa, when Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored at 18:58 with Craig Anderson on the bench, it was Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi. And Saturday, Staal and Brendan Smith were on when Brassard tied it as the extra attacker at 18:34.
Michael Grabner and Kevin Hayes were on up front for the first two five-on-sixes against with Miller joining them in Montreal and Jesper Fast with them for Game 2 in Ottawa. Saturday, the forwards were Stepan, Mats Zuccarello and Tanner Glass.
So who should Alain Vigneault throw out there next, Brian Leetch, Kevin Lowe, Jan Erixon, Craig MacTavish and Adam Graves?