Rangers Choke Away Late 2-Goal Lead, Fall In Double OT

Sick pinch Nick Holden.

We can scapegoat all we want, but there’s plenty of blame to go around. When you can’t put a team away with THREE separate 2-goal leads & blow the last one with under 3:30 left it’s a sign of weakness from the top down. Very reminiscent of Game 2 vs the Habs – major difference being the Rangers had already won the first. This time, New York is now down 2-0 and they’re gonna have a long 3 days to dig deep. They’ve left themselves no room for error when the series returns to MSG.

This is a monster kick in the dick. It looked like this was gonna be the breakout I wrote about in my pregame post. 2 short-handed goals. Kreider & Stepan finally got on the board with finishes of their own. Skjei’s blossoming was in full effect. Outside of a ridiculous first half of the second period, Anderson looked far from bulletproof. But neither was Hank. Five of Ottawa’s six goals were legit thanks to Rangers mistakes or fortunate bounces/tips – but when you face just 34 shots in over 80 minutes it’s hard to say 28 saves is a good performance. I’m not blaming him in any way. Just pointing out that Lundqvist showing mortality is another aspect of such a gut-wrenching loss.

I’m still not sure why AV continues his infatuation with Holden & Staal. Yeah Skjei got danced a bit on the Sens second goal but Holden was right there too doing nothing and, quite frankly, that one is mostly on Nash/Stepan allowing a trailer to coast right by and tap in a free rebound. Outside of that though he made two HUGE defensive plays & now leads the entire team in postseason goals. Brendan Smith set up Skjei’s second and I don’t remember him making any significant mistakes or misplays defensively. Yet here we are with another blown lead & Holden/Staal getting crunch time minutes while Smith/Skjei are glued to the bench. Coincidence? Maybe – but anyone with eyeballs knows it’s blatantly obvious those two didn’t deserve 6 more minutes than 76 & 42 today.

If you want a hint of optimism, I still don’t think the Senators are very good & all they really did was what they’re supposed to do. They won at home. Thing is, that’s a pretty big deal against a Blueshirts squad that’s been #1 on the road all year. Despite winning their last two, playoff games at MSG don’t exactly ignite any confidence flames. Ottawa comes in with all the momentum in the world and plenty of house money to skate with while the Rangers have painted themselves into a corner of having to play near perfect hockey. It’s far from over, but if NY is gonna advance it won’t be easy.

Then again – when has it ever been?

Saturdays are in fact NOT for the Blueshirts.