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Rangers need a more disciplined effort in Game 3 on the road
Bobby Bevilacqua
Game 2 got very chippy and aggressive towards the end. That will likely carry over into Game 3 in Tampa Bay tonight. Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals was an anomaly. The Rangers were completely off their game for the first 34 minutes. They took too many penalties, made way too many errors, and didn’t give themselves much of a chance to win from the initial puck drop.
I don’t think that will be the case in Game 3, which is down in Tampa Bay at Amalie Arena. Ryan McDonagh and Alain Vigneault were two of the most vocal people following the loss, and they were not happy. McDonagh criticized the team’s “embarrassing, stupid, selfish penalties,” and head coach Alain Vigneault criticized the miscues and lack of scoring.
Now the series shifts to Tampa Bay with both teams having secured one win out of the first two games at Madison Square Garden. Now the Lightning, the best home team in the NHL (32-8-1), get a crack at capitalizing on their home ice idvantage against the Rangers, the best road team in the NHL (28-11-2). Read the rest of this entry
The Ranger Zone Podcast: Takeaways from Game 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals
The Rangers have played the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals, and head to Amalie Arena to take on the Lightning in their home building. Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
This is the second episode of The Ranger Zone podcast! In this episode I discuss my observations from the first two games in the series against the Lightning. Everything from the Game 1 domination to the Game 2 debacle on Monday night. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers blown out at MSG in Game 2; Stepan keeps on surging
Bobby Bevilacqua
The Lightning got the better of the Rangers on Monday night, putting six goals on the board and dominating at Madison Square Garden. Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
The Rangers had an ugly performance tonight at Madison Square Garden, playing very sloppily and undisciplined, giftwrapping the Tampa Bay Lightning a 6-2 win, and snapping their consecutive playoff games steak decided by one goal at 15 games. The series is tied at one game apiece
For a team that talked about needing to play with desperation and how huge it would be to get a 2-0 series lead, the team as a whole didn’t play with that mentality apart from maybe six minutes in the second period. They took six penalties, allowed a shorthanded goal, and made some crucial mistakes that all led to goals.
Everyone knew that the key to this game would be staying out of the box for the Rangers. But the referees were calling everything from the start, and the Rangers were still extremely undisciplined, taking six minor penalties in the game. Tampa Bay scored three power play goals, and one seven seconds after a penalty had expired. Captain Ryan McDonagh discussed the “embarrassing, stupid, selfish penalties,” after the game, finishing with this quote. “Our guys better figure it out quickly here and realize that stupid selfish penalties are going to cost us against this team.” Read the rest of this entry
Rangers look to build big advantage with second win; Stepan streaking
Bobby Bevilacqua
The Rangers and Lightning play Game 2 at Madison Square Garden tonight,. Expect a big push back from Jon Cooper and the Lightning. Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
Following yet another 2-1 victory over the Lightning in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Rangers will look to capitalize on their home ice advantage and take a 2-0 series lead by stifling Tampa Bay’s offense again.
But that isn’t such an easy task. Alain Vigneault masterfully matched his defensemen up against certain members of the Lightning offense, limiting Steven Stamkos to just one shot on goal, and controlling th pace of play at even strength. Jon Cooper, head coach of the Lightning, had strong words about his team, saying that “we were just handing them tickets to the movie and we were a turnstile and watching them go by.”
The Lightning are very likely to have a better effort tonight than they did on Saturday afternoon. Surprisingly, there really wasn’t any sense of urgency from Tampa, especially when Ben Bishop was out of the net. The Rangers pushed them around the whole game, using their size as a major advantage. They couldn’t get much going at even strength, and they’ll be aiming to change that tonight. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers Practice Report: “Huge opportunity” awaits the Rangers in Game 2
Bobby Bevilacqua
Rick Nash said that Game 2 presents a ‘huge opportunity” for the Rangers to capitalize on their home ice advantage. Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
The Rangers started out the Eastern Conference Finals exactly as they had hoped, coming away with a victory at Madison Square Garden to put them three wins away from returning to the Stanley Cup Finals. Alain Vigneault and his team fought for home ice advantage during the regular season, and now they need to take capitalize on that.
“It’s a huge opportunity for us,” said Rick Nash following the Rangers’ practice on Sunday afternoon. “We have home ice and want to take full advantage of that. We’re going to see their best tomorrow, but we prefer to look at ourselves, and see a huge opportunity to go ahead 2-0.”
Last year, the Rangers did exactly that, winning the first two games of the series against the Montreal Canadiens in the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals. That allowed them to come to the Garden for Game 3 and 4, giving the Rangers a huge leg up in the series. They won Game 4 at MSG, giving them a 3-1 series lead, and a stranglehold on the Canadiens. Read the rest of this entry
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