From scapegoat to the direct facilitator of losses, the villainy of the Rangers' power play continues to rise to new heights.
In Game 3 of their second-round playoff series on Monday night at the Garden, the Blueshirts' man-advantage not only squandered all five opportunities they had, but their ineptitude led directly to the decisive goals the Penguins scored en route to a 2-0 win.
Even though the Rangers were the better team for most of the night — outshooting the Pens, 35-15 — the result was a second straight shutout for Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, giving his team a 2-1 lead in this best-of-seven series, with Game 4 now being a desperate one for the Rangers, set for Wednesday night back at the Garden.
"Part of playoff hockey, it's a part of you trusting your players that they'll be able to adjust subtle little differences that the other team makes," coach Alain Vigneault said Monday afternoon. "We haven't proved that on our power play we can do that, but I'm confident that we will."
Yet again, Vigneault's confidence was betrayed. The Rangers' power play is now without a goal in its past 34 attempts, and is 3-for-42 in this postseason.
"We've got some good players," Vigneault said. "They execute well when the time is needed and they get another opportunity to prove it."
Now they'll need to prove it on Wednesday, otherwise the Penguins are going to take this back to Pittsburgh for Friday's Game 5 with a chance to send the Rangers home for the summer.
The Penguins pulled away in the second period, which started scoreless and the Rangers still with 2:15 of power-play time left over from a double-minor high stick on James Neal. Even though they got some good looks, they didn't score, and just 19 seconds after it expired, Sidney Crosby streaked past Marc Staal on a breakaway and buried one between Henrik Lundqvist's legs for a 1-0 lead, Crosby's first goal of the playoffs despite playing excellent throughout.
"Their big boys put on the big-boy pants," Vigneault had said, referring to the terrific game had by most of Pittsburgh's top players in Sunday night's 3-0 Penguins' win. "That's what I need mine to do."
Well, not so much.
The Rangers got another power play when Jussi Jokinen was called for holding-the-stick with 13:12 gone by in the second, and yet they fumbled it again. Just as he was leaving the box, Jokinen collected an errant Mats Zuccarello pass and went on another breakaway, beating Lundqvist low-blocker for a 2-0 lead.
All of the lineup changes Vigneault made started to look like good ideas in the first period. J.T. Miller and Jesper Fast came in for Derek Dorsett and Dan Carcillo, adding quite a bit of skill up front. Less than five minutes in, Miller made a good play in the corner, getting the puck to Martin St. Louis in front, who just missed the chance. Fast contributed his health, taking a stick in the face from Neal, drawing a four-minute double-minor that bridged the first and second periods and saw Benoit Pouliot ring one off the post.
Vigneault also brought in Raphael Diaz to replace John Moore on the blueline, and Diaz was not reluctant to shoot in his first postseason action as a Ranger, firing three shots on net in the opening 20 minutes.
Considering this was the Rangers' fifth game in the past seven days — the first time that has happened in the postseason since 1989 — the lineup changes fought back any early fatigue that might have existed.
"We're in the second round of the NHL playoffs, we have a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup," Vigneauilt said. "We're excited, we're energized."
And due to the power play, it was again, all for naught.
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