Yet Again, Rangers Seem Averse to Prosperity
PHILADELPHIA - Some streaks defy logic, but the Rangers ' current run of futility may be the strangest of all: an N.H.L.-record 12 straight defeats while holding a lead in a playoff series.
The latest came Tuesday night, with a dispiriting 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of their opening-round series. Game 7 will be played on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. The winner will advance to the second round, against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Rangers were buried beneath a blizzard of orange Flyers hats that fluttered down from the stands in the second period after Wayne Simmonds scored his third goal of the game to make the score 4-0. The rest of the night was a raucous Flyers celebration.
The only bright spot for the Rangers were too-little-too-late goals by Carl Hagelin and Mats Zuccarello.
Still, the Rangers can take solace in having a better record in recent Game 7s. They have won their last three series-deciding games.
In the opening minutes the Rangers skated circles around the Flyers, as they had for much of the series. Steve Mason seemed shaky in goal, giving up rebound after rebound, but he did not allow a shot to beat him.
The Flyers, meanwhile, were butterfingered with their sticks. They gave the puck away or had it taken away 17 times in the game's first 22 minutes. The Rangers made only seven such turnovers in that span.
But the only two turnovers that really mattered were committed by Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi. They both led to goals.
Early in the first period, Benoit Pouliot was sent to the penalty box for an unnecessary holding penalty when he collared Claude Giroux in the neutral zone. On the power play, Girardi made a bad pass that gave the puck to the Flyers. Henrik Lundqvist robbed Simmons once, but Simmonds got the puck back again and whacked it in at 7 minutes 8 seconds to make the score 1-0.
The game quickly spiraled out of control for the Rangers early in the second period. Another Girardi miscue - at even strength - led to a two-on-one break for the Flyers and another goal for Simmonds.
Brayden Schenn carried the puck in on the break but fanned on his shot from close range. The puck, however, slid across the slot to Simmonds, who swept it into the open side of the net.
The Rangers' anemic power play and Lundqvist were to blame for the third goal, scored by defenseman Erik Gustafsson after he emerged from the penalty box.
The Flyers had just killed off the Rangers' third power play when the puck fell in a no-man's land in the Rangers zone. Lundqvist hesitated to come out for it, and Gustafsson pounced and beat Lundqvist to make the score 3-0 at 14:17.
Gustafsson was playing his first game of the series, taking the place of Hal Gill, who was victimized on a goal in the Rangers' 4-2 victory in Game 5. Gill was filling in for Nicklas Grossman, who was injured in Game 4 and had ankle surgery on Tuesday.
Just 1:02 later, with Derek Dorsett off for tripping, Simmonds tipped in Jakub Voracek's shot. That triggered the avalanche of hats, for Simmonds's hat trick.
Coach Alain Vigneault pulled Lundqvist after two periods, replacing him with Cam Talbot, who stopped all five shots he faced.
Giroux scored an empty-net goal with 4:11 left.
Lundqvist stopped only 19 of 23 shots. His career record fell to 5-5 in games when the Rangers can clinch a playoff series.
Mason, though, got better and better as the game progressed, and wound up with 34 saves. With the score still 2-0 and the Rangers on the power play, he robbed Pouliot with a picturesque glove save.
Five minutes into the third period, Brian Boyle seemed to get the Rangers on the scoreboard, but the referees ruled he punched the puck into the net with his glove, and their ruling was upheld by the video judges in Toronto.
The rest of the game was almost an afterthought - a matter of putting the final touches on the Rangers' ignominious streak that stretches back to 2009.
SLAP SHOTS
The Rangers went 0 for 5 while skating with a manpower advantage. The Flyers have killed off the Rangers' last 20 power plays in the series.
Post a Comment for "Yet Again, Rangers Seem Averse to Prosperity"