PITTSBURGH — The Rangers couldn’t have written a more advantageous script for them. Or maybe that should be it, rather than its three advantages.
Because after a team-wide meltdown in the first period in which a perhaps flustered Igor Shesterkin allowed four goals on 15 shots before being deflected in favor of Alexandar Georgiev in the first half with a 4-1 deficit, the Blueshirts They came roaring back.
They got their forecheck game up and running. They were able to escape their zone and break through the neutral zone without calamity. And they seemed to pierce the aura and romance attached to third-row keeper Louis Domingue, beating him three times on 10 shots in a span of 9:08 to tie the contest to 4-4.
The younger, untested Blueshirts had jumped headfirst into the crucible without looking and were somehow coming out the other side. Not only that, here came the power-play unit for the first time in the match at 18:35 of the second half.
The power play has become the genesis of the Blueshirts’ offensive identity. The inviolable first unit of Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Ryan Strome and Adam Fox has set the team apart. It represents the biggest weapon in the club. The Rangers had gone the first 38:35 of this game without a man advantage, while the Penguins had gotten three.
Now was the time.
Well, no, it wasn’t.
The Rangers did little in the man advantage that tied the second and third periods together, the intermission giving the 30-year-old Domingue time to reset and regain his composure. Given another chance on an Evgeni Malkin hook penalty at 2:19, the Blueshirts applied pressure but were thwarted again, this time Domingue stopped Zibanejad twice from the left side.
Incredibly, the Blueshirts got their third straight power play when Danton Heinen was ejected for a cut at 6:29. This time the Rangers were too deliberate, the two minutes ended without a shot.
The unfortunate summary: three power plays in a span of 8:54, and no goals in a sum of three shots. The team’s greatest offensive strength had become a fatal weakness at the most inopportune moment.
And so it seemed inevitable that the Penguins, outmatched from post to post from the start of the second to the depths of the third, would somehow find a way. They did, with Heinen sliding a short side over Georgiev at 11:02 for the 5-4 lead that turned into a 7-4 finish bolstered by a pair of empty nets to give Pittsburgh the 2-1 lead. in the series.
“Of course,” Strome said after it was suggested the power play unit had blown its chance to change the outcome. “All we wanted was an opportunity and we had a game-changing opportunity and we couldn’t get one, so it’s obviously frustrating, especially after coming all the way back and going through some adversity.
“In a series you have to adapt. They made some good adjustments, so we have to adjust and be ready for Game 4. [Monday] in the power play and five against five, too”.
This is a series that has been played almost entirely in open spaces. This is certainly not traditional playoff hockey. The changes in momentum have been gigantic. Neither team has been able to maintain the backcourt structure for much more than a turn or two at a time.
The Rangers want to be balanced between games, but a dose of that on the ice would help. The first half was a throwback to the worst of the worst of the season.
“I don’t think we get to our game fast enough,” Kreider said. “I don’t think we were playing together, especially at this point in the season. The effort is not something that is questioned, it is a matter of working smartly, not hard.
“Obviously I liked the response, but we’ve had times throughout the year where we got into holes like that and were able to bounce back, but that’s not something to do in the playoffs. It is something that is best rectified quickly.
Thing is, the Rangers bounced back on a night where The Kid Line with Filip Chytil at the center of Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere was probably the most dangerous unit on the team during the first two periods. They persevered despite a bad night from Patrik Nemeth and inconsistency in coverage of Zone D.
After all the chaos, after all the mistakes, the Rangers had the game right where they wanted it.
So they didn’t.
Reference-nypost.com