Based on the Rangers’ season-long penchant for resiliency and their terrific record at Madison Square Garden, Saturday night’s loss in Carolina seems more like a blip than anything else in their second-round series in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
In other words, they still ought to be heavy favorites to wrap up the series in Game 5 on Monday night, when it shifts back to the Garden, even if the Canes own a smidge of momentum based on a 4-3 home win.
But the Rangers still command the series, up three games to one. The Eastern Conference Finals are one win away and it’s easy to think the Rangers can advance on their familiar ice.
The Rangers were 30-11 at home this season and are 4-0 so far in the playoffs. Over their last 16 home playoff games, the Rangers are 13-3 with a plus-23 goal differential. They’ve already beaten Carolina twice at the Garden in these playoffs, including a double-overtime win in Game 2.
Going home means “a lot that goes in your favor,” Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette told reporters Saturday at his postgame news conference at PNC Arena. “Certainly, the fans, going back to our building. Our fans are incredible.
“That energy will be important.”
The Rangers have basically withstood everything thrown at them this season, including a mid-season malaise that left some wondering if they were really as good as they had once seemed. Igor Shesterkin got a mini-vacation after the All-Star break, when the goalie himself didn’t feel or play like an All-Star, and he emerged from whatever funk assailed him as his old self, perhaps the world’s best netminder. They’ve endured through injuries and watched as players such as Alexis Lafrenière have blossomed.
They have 32 comeback wins this season, a team record. No quit in New York, right? No panic, either.
Game 4, even if the result wasn’t what they wanted, was a microcosm of sorts of the way they have handled the season. They fought back. Despite falling behind quickly by two goals – for the first time in these playoffs – they rallied to tie the score and put themselves in position to steal a game on hostile ice.
Shesterkin gave up a shocking three goals in the first period – on only 10 shots, after stopping 121-of-129 shots over the first three games, a .938 save percentage.
The Rangers trailed, 3-1, and Laviolette said he stressed to his players that they win the second period. “We did that,” Laviolette said. He noted that they then tied the score at 3 in the third period and the game came down to a late power play for Carolina. The Canes, who had been 0-for-16 on the power play in the series, finally converted.
You had to figure the Canes would get a man-advantage goal at some point, right? They were the second-best power play in the NHL during the regular season and they’d been smothered by the Rangers’ penchant for penalty killing and the Blueshirts’ shot-blocking wizardry.
The Rangers lost, but they didn’t play poorly. Well, except maybe in the first period.
“I thought they played a great game, actually,” said Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “We came out well, which was very important, and then they answered the bell.”
That’s been one of the major themes of the Rangers season. They always answer. They have a big lead in what’s been a close series – the goal differential is plus-2 in favor of the Rangers. Their next chance to answer is Monday.
“It just comes down to, we believe in ourselves,” the Rangers’ Barclay Goodrow told reporters in Raleigh. “We know it wasn’t going to be easy. We know that doesn’t affect our confidence level.
“Come back with a better game on Monday.”
And end the series.
