The series against the Flyers is tied 2-2, and two of the next three games (if necessary) will be played at the Garden. So why does it seem as if the Rangers are trailing this first-round series?
Well, perhaps because all of the comforts of home have not translated into any home advantage for the Blueshirts, who have saved most of their worst and least inspired hockey for a home crowd that hasn’t been especially inspirational itself.
Perhaps because the Rangers twice have allowed control of this series to slip through their hands when presented with opportunities to take command in Games 2 and 4 — Brad Richards’ observation on Saturday that, “I don’t think we laid an egg, which I’ve seen in the past in Game 4s,” notwithstanding.
Perhaps because not a single Ranger has elevated his game to the necessary degree to be a consistent difference-maker. The Blueshirts’ best players have been in and out, up and down.
Perhaps because the Flyers haven’t established much of anything other than a 2014 playoff record for consecutive stops of play during which their captain and alternates converse with/complain to the referees, but still seem to be gaining on the Rangers, who are stuck in a standing-still mode.
It is time. Sunday afternoon’s Game 5 at the Garden is the time and the place for the Rangers to establish superiority and to strut their stuff. Game 5 is time for the Rangers’ leaders to step up and step it up.
If Henrik Lundqvist needs to pitch a shutout in order for the Blueshirts to take a 3-2 lead in the series, then the burden is on The King to do just that. Lundqvist has been the second-best goaltender on the ice in two of the first four contests — in Game 2 when he was outdone by Philadelphia backup Ray Emery, and in Friday’s 2-1 Game 4, when Steve Mason outshined him upon reclaiming the Flyers’ net.
Richards, facing the prospect of an offseason amnesty buyout, could suddenly be coming up on his final few games of his Rangers career. He is a very important player and presence on this team, yet everyone recognizes the impact of the cap-recapture provision of the collective bargaining agreement on his status.
The best way for No. 19 to ensure extending his stay on Broadway for at least a couple of weeks is for him to get the power play he quarterbacks — on the ice for 24:50 of the club’s 33:09 PP time in the series — moving in the right direction, which is to say, moving following a stationary night on Friday.
The power play that struck for three goals on its first eight opportunities has failed on its last 12 advantages — including a killer 0-for-4 in Game 4 — stretching back to the first period of Game 2.
“They’re a different team on the penalty kill than they were in the first game,” Richards said. “They’re blocking more shots, their lanes are a lot different. We’ve been meeting about it all morning and hopefully will put our answer on the ice.”
This is the time of year that a team’s best players must be its best players. It is essential for the Derick Brassard-Mats Zuccarello-Benoit Pouliot line — the Rangers’ most consistent forward unit after Christmas — to establish itself in open ice.
This is an important time for Brassard, who is coming up on restricted free agency. The Rangers are going to have to decide whether to attempt to lock up Brassard in a long-term deal that’s likely to be pricey or whether to allow the 26-year-old center to go to salary arbitration for a one-year contract that would then set him up for unrestricted free agency in 2015.
And so this is the time for Brassard, who has been locked in a contentious running battle with Claude Giroux throughout the series, to step up the way he did in last year’s seven-game first-round victory over the Capitals, in which led his team in scoring with nine points (2-7).
Rick Nash has become an outstanding penalty killer and works as hard away from the puck and in his own end as any forward on the club. Those fine attributes might have gotten him to Sochi, but aren’t what brought him to New York. No. 61 simply must produce. He must exert his will on this series. He has one goal in 16 playoff games as a Ranger. It’s not close to enough.
“Rick really wants to do well and he’s trying every shift he’s on the ice to put his best foot forward,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “It’s a tough league; the opposition, when you’ve got an elite player like that, obviously has a plan.
“He’s got to keep working, he’s got to try and elevate his game. He knows he’s a big part of us having success and moving forward.”
This is the time for Nash and for Richards and Marty St. Louis. This is the time for Lundqvist and the time for Brassard.
“Players that are going to be able to bring their ‘A’ game, elevate it, keep that ‘A’ game consistently on the ice, that’s the team that’s going to win,” coach Alain Vigneault said.
This is the time for the Rangers to elevate their game. This is the time for the Rangers to be the better team.
If not now, when?