Some reaction to Game 2 and projecting to Game 3:
It’s easy to climb up onto the ledge after the Rangers, once again, had a golden opportunity to put the chokehold on a seemingly overmatched opponent, only to bumble away another Game 2 and cede home ice. But these guys are humans and it’s very hard not to drop your level after you go up 2-0 following a 4-1 win. The Rangers played well for the most part in the 2nd period yesterday, but Ray Emery made some big saves to give the Flyers a +2 in those 20 minutes.
Obviously, the caveat is that the Rangers proceeded to be absolutely dreadful in the 3rd period. Just one of the worst, most ineffective displays they’ve had all season. It’s pretty funny to hear people blame Lundqvist — who admittedly didn’t have his “A” stuff — for the loss when the Rangers couldn’t even keep the puck in the Flyers’ zone the entire 3rd period. Hank made a few big saves to keep the deficit at one goal, but it was a moot point with how his offense was getting shut down. The hope is obviously that this was an anomalous period, but the Rangers will have some questions to answer early in Game 3.
The Jesper Fast experiment has to come to an end. I understand to some extent AV’s frustration with J.T. Miller, but Fast has been a giant zero in this series. It’s almost as if Richards and Hagelin are playing on a two-man line. Miller, for his defensive inefficiencies, can make things happen in the offensive zone and clearly has much more upside than Fast at this point in their young careers. Hell, even if AV doesn’t trust Miller enough to throw him on that line, give me Carcillo, who you know is dying to get a piece of the Flyers. Either way, Fast needs to be watching from the press box Tuesday night.
It didn’t directly cost us the game — too many missed opportunities on the power play took care of that — but there were two atrocious penalties called on the Rangers yesterday. I thought Zuccarello’s coinciding minor when he did nothing but get thrown to the ground was bad, but then I saw Dorsett get an embellishment (!) penalty for being slammed from behind face-first into the glass by Simmonds. The idea that these kinds of plays can’t be reviewed is a joke. Those were two times the Rangers were straight up robbed of a man advantage.
Now here are the reasons to step way back from the ledge:
a. The Flyers, true to form, have taken 13 penalties in two games.
b. The Rangers have outshot Philly 69-40 in this series.
c. The Rangers set a franchise record with 25 road wins this season. All season they struggled with inconsistent play at home. They had very few such lapses on the road.
So chill out everyone. Yes, it’s annoying to see another Game 2 on home ice slip away. But the Flyers were eventually going to win at the Garden and were eventually going to push back and have a good defensive period. Credit to them for doing it, but pretty much every indicator still points to the Rangers winning this series in 5 or 6 games. They just need to start Game 3 like they finished Game 1 and take back any momentum currently on Philly’s side.
Running the Point 