PITTSBURGH— Turns out Anton Stralman was not the answer.
The Rangers defenseman finally got a chance on the power play, and he was unable to bolster the beleaguered group in Sunday night’s 3-0 Game 2 loss to the Penguins at CONSOL Energy Center, tying this best-of-seven contest 1-1 with Game 3 at the Garden on Monday.
Stralman had played a total of 22:28 on the man-advantage during the regular season, and came in with 10 seconds this postseason. He got 3:43 on the man-advantage on Sunday, as the group went 0-for-4 over 8:00 and is now 3-for-37 in the playoffs and without a goal in its past 29 attempts.
“The power play is ultimately my responsibility and I have to find the right trigger points here to make it work,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “I’m going to spend the rest of the night trying to figure it out.”
Stralman knew in the morning he was finally getting a shot, yet he wasn’t trying to put too much pressure on himself.
“I’m happy with the game I’m playing and I can’t focus on being the hero of a power play,” Stralman said before the game. “That’s not what I’m going to do. I have to focus on my game and keep playing well defensively. If it works out on the power play, great. If not, we’ll still work on it.”
Also getting some rare power-play time were Marc Staal (:47) and Kevin Klein (:47).
“It didn’t score,” Vigneault said, “so I have to do a better job.”
Injured top-six forward Chris Kreider (left hand) practiced with a non-contact jersey on and stick-handled more than he has in recent days. Vigneault was not about to say when he thinks Kreider might be ready, only saying, “He’s looking better.”
When asked if he thinks Kreider could be ready this series, Vigneault smiled and said, “I don’t know, we’ll find out as we move forward here.”
The coach also said he will not change the team’s practice schedule in order to get Kreider some work, if and when he is able to return. Kreider had surgery on the hand on March 28, and has now missed 18 straight games.
The Rangers stuck with the same lineup, meaning Dan Carcillo stayed in up front while J.T. Miller and Jesper Fast remained healthy scratches.
The Penguins inserted forward Brian Gibbons in for tough-guy Tanner Glass. Gibbons had been out since Game 4 of the first round with an undisclosed injury. Top-four defenseman Brooks Orpik remained out.