SHORT ON TIME

Vigneault says short bench not about experience but hot hands

The message from Alain Vigneault was twofold: 1) He’s pretty happy with the way the Rangers have played, despite being down 2-0 in their best-of-seven secondround series with the Senators; 2) He’s got nothing against the younger players, and the minutes he allots are based more on individual performance in that game rather than the experience (or lack of ) of each player.

Of course, there was going to be backlash after two crushing losses up in Ottawa to open this series. First there was a 2-1 defeat in Game 1 perpetrated by a sharp-angle goal to Erik Karlsson with 4:11 left in regulation, a contest that saw goalie Henrik Lundqvist peppered with terrific Senators’ scoring chances throughout. And then Game 2 was a wild back-and-forth affair Saturday afternoon that ended when Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored his fourth goal of the contest, 2:59 into double overtime for a 6-5 Ottawa win.

“The last six periods, the last two in [Game 1] and the fourplus that we played [in Game 2], we’ve played some pretty good hockey,” Vigneault said on a conference call Sunday, his team getting the day off before returning to practice Monday in preparation for Game 3 Tuesday night at the Garden.

“We’ve gotten some good looks, we’ve been able to limit a pretty skilled team and we’ve been able to generate quite a few chances,” he said. “And that’s been with a mixture of veteran players and younger players.”

As Game 2 went on — and drag could never be a word used for the breakneck action — Vigneault began to lean on more experienced players, even if their experience was not the reason why. Rookie winger Pavel Buchnevich didn’t play after the second period except for one shift on a power play in the third period, while Oscar Lindberg got a game-low 5:07 total ice time and didn’t play in either overtime.

Maybe more striking was the fact rookie defenseman Brady Skjei, who had scored twice and was back on top of his game after a dreary performance in Game 1, didn’t see the ice over the final 6:48 of regulation. Skjei’s second goal — he now has four goals in eight playoff games — gave his team a 5-3 lead, which it held until Pageau scored on a redirection with 3:19 left in regulation, and then again with 62 seconds remaining and Senators goalie Craig Anderson on the bench for the extra attacker.

“Minutes are based on how you’re playing,” Vigneault said. “Depending on certain games, not everybody’s game on different nights is the same. Some nights, certain players have got their execution and their ability to make plays higher than others, even if they have more or less experience.”

Skjei did get beat wide by Mike Hoffman late in the second period, when the teams were skating four-on-four, resulting in Mark Methot scoring on the rebound to cut the Rangers’ lead to 3-2. But it was a rare miscue during a game in which Skjei was one of the Blueshirts’ best defensemen.

“In Brady’s case, obviously he had a pretty good night [in Game 2], got caught there on that four-on-four where he got beat wide and they scored a goal,” Vigneault said. “But other than that, he played pretty good minutes, moving his feet and moving the puck and jumping up in the play when there. But all players’ minutes some nights are looking for certain matchups, especially probably more for your defense than forwards. Minutes are based on how you’re playing and what you’re doing for the team that night, what your contribution is.

“It’s not based on your experience and how old you are. It’s based on how you’re playing.”

So the coach thinks the Rangers are playing rather well despite being down, and there seems to be an immense amount of confidence they can turn this series around with a good performance in Game 3. Who he will lean on to try to make that happen is still to be seen.

“For me, it’s not about veterans or younger players,” Vigneault said. “It’s about how you’re playing and what you’re doing in that particular moment.”