NEW YORK – It turns out the Rangers are going to have to sweat this one out.
Visions of a second straight playoff sweep were erased when they lost Game 4 in Carolina on Saturday, but Game 5 at Madison Square Garden felt like a fitting venue to finish off the pesky Hurricanes.
Except it didn’t happen that way.
The Rangers took a one-goal lead into Monday’s third period, but their lack of urgency left the door open and allowed the Canes to pounce. Carolina poured in four unanswered goals in the final frame, including three in a span of 6:23, to wipe away the deficit and hand the Blueshirts a gut-punch 4-1 loss.
And now we have a series.
“It just wasn’t the night that we were looking to have,” said visibly displeased head coach Peter Laviolette. “It was more than the third period.”
Forward shuffling:Filip Chytil returns from illness but unlikely to play
To Laviolette’s point, there were a few concerning trends to emerge from Game 5.
The Rangers’ power play, which began the playoffs as one of the NHL’s hottest units, has gone cold with zero goals in the last three games, going 0-for-8 in that span. Their five-on-five offense also failed to score Monday while generating only 15 shots, and their defense has being springing leaks at inopportune moments.
The Hurricanes are known for their swarming forecheck and disruptive style, which has been building as this series goes on. They’ve turned several Blueshirts’ breakout attempts into uncoordinated puck-flinging sessions, converted turnovers into quick strikes and taken advantage of defensive-zone breakdowns, particularly when New York’s forwards get caught trailing the play.
“The details weren’t there for us, and they were for them,” veteran Chris Kreider said. “They do the simple things. Over time, those are going to eventually lead to chances and results.”
The Rangers still lead the series 3-2, but a return trip to PNC Arena − where the Canes have won 16 of their last 21 playoff games − for Game 6 on Thursday at 7 p.m. is next on an increasingly difficult docket.
If momentum is a thing in the playoffs, it has shifted firmly in Carolina’s favor.
“You can look at momentum or desperation,” Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. “You could say we had momentum up 3-0, but they had desperation on their side. It’s kind of a double-edged sword. I don’t read too much into momentum game to game. It’s a clean slate. You got a fresh crack at a 0-0 game in a couple days.”
A fleeting moment for the PK
A scoreless first period featured quality chances both ways, but the Canes were making a strong push in the second when a tripping penalty on Jack Roslovic sent them to the power play.
The fear was that Carolina would build on Brady Skjei’s game-winning goal on Saturday, which snapped an 0-for-16 skid for its PP to begin this series. But the Rangers’ vaunted penalty kill, which has been arguably their biggest strength in these playoffs, went right back to its dominant ways.
The key play came from Trouba, who was on ice for all four Canes’ goals in Game 4 but responded with a bounce-back performance Monday. (Up until a late-game blemish that we’ll get to shortly.) He blocked a shot from Sebastian Aho, scooped up the loose puck and carried it coast-to-coast for New York’s fourth shorthanded goal of the playoffs.
That made it 1-0 at the 6:23 mark, with Rangers carrying that lead into a final period that took a sharp turn in the Hurricanes’ favor.
“We knew we had to have our best period,” Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. “And we did.”
Slipping away
The Canes weren’t able to solve Igor Shesterkin for the first 40-plus minutes, but they made the Blueshirts pay for taking a passive approach to begin the third.
They were on their heels from the start of the period, with Staal netting the tying goal following a failed clear from Kreider that was intercepted by Dmitry Orlov. He sent a cross-ice pass to Staal, who blew by defenseman Braden Schneider before reaching around Shesterkin for a backhanded finish.
“That was vintage Jordan Staal,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
That made it 1-1 with 16:27 to play, with Carolina continuing to push from there.
Evgeny Kuznetsov struck next for his second goal in as many games, beating Artemi Panarin to the far post to bury a Skjei rebound that turned into the winning goal.
Jordan Martinook followed by scoring to make it 3-1 with 10:04 to play, finishing from the slot after Jack Drury forced a Trouba turnover behind the net to silence the MSG crowd.
An empty-netter from Martin Necas sealed the Rangers’ fate, as pressure now shifts onto their shoulders for the first time in these playoffs.
“It’s a bad period,” Trouba said. “I don’t think we’re going to sit here and break it down 100 times and try to fix a bunch of things. We played a bad period. We’ve played a pretty consistently good game throughout the playoffs, and that’s the game we want to get back to in Raleigh.”
‘A pretty good spot to be in’
To get that done, the Rangers will need to match the Canes’ desperation and find more ways to produce.
They could have Filip Chytil back for Game 6, who has missed the past two games due to illness. One person with knowledge of the situation told lohud.com, part of the USA TODAY Network, that the illness is not concussion-related or a setback from the previous injury that kept him out for over six months. He was able to skate with the team Monday morning, but given the delicacy of his situation, long absence and general soreness the 24-year-old forward experienced following his return for Game 3 on Thursday, the Rangers are treading lightly.
Rookie Matt Rempe slotted in on the fourth line for Game 5 and logged 6:01 time on ice, with only one of his eight shifts coming in the third period.
But a lineup change is secondary to getting their key players to step up.
Panarin is near the top of that list after back-to-back pointless games that included some glaring defensive gaffes, with Adam Fox right there with him. The Blueshirts’ best defenseman has not looked the part through nine playoff games − in fact, he looks hobbled following a collision with Washington Capitals defenseman Nick Jensen in Game 4 of the previous series − and has failed to post a point in three consecutive contests.
The list goes on, including an uneven series for Erik Gustafsson-Trouba defensive pair and a tough night for the Rangers’ bottom-six forwards, who were outshot by a combined 7-1 margin in Game 5.
As a whole, New York managed only one high-danger scoring chance at 5v5 in the final two periods, according to Natural Stat Trick. It will require a vastly improved effort for them to finish off the suddenly surging Hurricanes.
“It wasn’t a reflection of who we were for the majority of the year,” Laviolette said. “Any time you don’t play up to your capabilities, you get concerned about that. But I also know that this group has had games like that before, and they responded. There’s accountability that goes with that from themselves.”
That steady resolve helped the Blueshirts capture the fourth Presidents’ Trophy in franchise history while setting new team records for points (114), wins (55) and comebacks (28).
Now they’ll face their biggest test yet, with a chance to show if they truly have championship DNA.
“If you had told me we’d be 3-2 against the second-best team in the league with an opportunity to close it out, it’s a pretty good spot to be in,” Kreider said. “So, just go down there and be better, be more detailed, work for each other, and find a way to win a game.”
Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.
First appeared on www.lohud.com