Is There Still No Quit?
The Eastern Conference Finals are nearing a close, with the Tampa Bay Lightning leading the New York Rangers three games to two. After rattling off consecutive victories at home, the Rangers have faltered, starting with a blown two goal lead in Game 3, culminating in three straight losses and facing elimination once again. The series is not over yet, despite Tampa Bay gaining home ice advantage for Game 6, as the Rangers are 5-0 in elimination games during the playoffs this season. However, the Lightning are not the Pittsburgh Penguins or the Carolina Hurricanes.
Even though the Rangers have come from behind and have been counted out all season, one can't just point to that and claim they'll get the job done without a shadow of a doubt. Remember, their opponent has won two straight Stanley Cups and knows how to close out a series. If the Rangers are to pull off yet another comeback it will certainly be the toughest thing for them to have accomplished this year, and it might be tougher than actually winning in the Finals. Tampa Bay is hungry for another repeat and they have essentially dominated possession of the puck since the third period of Game 3. The Rangers will need a complete contribution from their entire squad, and cannot afford to miss any open nets when given the opportunity.
The Rangers have struggled to generate offense at even strength in this series, as they have only had one five-on-five goal since Mika Zibanejad's game winner in Game 2, and that came on a Ryan Lindgren shot in Game 5 that arguably could have been stopped by Andrei Vasilevskiy. Five-on-five play has been a major problem for the Rangers all year, although there was tremendous improvement since the trade deadline. At this point in the playoffs, especially with the series going deep, it becomes more likely that the referees will swallow their whistles and let the teams play, and this was seen in Game 5, so the Rangers won't have their lethal power play on which to fall back. While there were many instances in Thursday night's game where the referees failed to call a penalty on the Bolts, that should not be the main reason for why a team loses a game. The Lightning were the better team in Game 5, and have been since Game 3, so the young Blueshirts need to find a way to buckle down and balance out the play because they are being pinned in their own end way too much.
All of the time the Lightning have spent in the Rangers' zone, while not always leading to goals, generates momentum for their side, as increased pressure leads to tired defenders, resulting in sloppy passes or forwards missing easy pucks off the breakout. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense, and this is something the Rangers will have to do if they want to have a chance at coming back in this series. The Rangers have earned the right to not be counted out when they're down, from their "no quit" play from the entire year, but the way they need to win Game 6 starts with an improvement at even strength play.
