The Rangers were ready to head into the first intermission with Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals against the Kings scoreless Monday night.
But then — with just 0.7 seconds left in the first period — a shot by Kings forward Jeff Carter deflected off Dan Girardi’s skate, off of Henrik Lundqvist’s glove and into the back of the Rangers net, giving the Kings all the cushion they would need en route to a 3-0 win that gave Los Angeles a 3-0 lead in this best-of-seven series.
“The puck got passed over and it just nicks off the heel of my blade,” Girardi said. “That’s how this series is going for us right now … a couple of bad bounces.
“At some point, it’s going to go our way.”
The Rangers are running out of time for that to happen, though, as the Kings now have a chance to close out the series with a win in Game 4 Wednesday night.
The Kings had just killed off a Ranger power play late in the first period and seemed content to head into the dressing rooms with the game scoreless when Kings forward Justin Williams scooped up the puck at center ice and skated into the offensive zone.
As Williams skated in, he drew the attention of both Rick Nash and John Moore, who both converged on Williams, leaving Carter uncovered in the middle of the ice. Williams slipped the puck between them to Carter for the shot, stunning both the home team and its fans.
“Obviously we had just killed a penalty and we got a quick up there and I was planning on maybe dropping it to Carter or just dumping it in,” Williams said. “I noticed two guys came to me, I was able to throw it in the middle to Carter, and snipers make shots.”
The goal came at the absolute worst time for the Rangers who, instead of keeping the crowd in the game and heading into the break with the game remaining scoreless, instead had to spend the 15-minute intermission shaking their heads about letting in a goal at such an inopportune time.
“I was reacting low, and it went high,” Lundqvist said. “It’s just one of those plays where, with a little luck there, that puck ends up in the netting or in the glass, but unfortunately with half a second left it ended up in our net.
“It was a tough play.”
After the Rangers’ woes continued at the start the second period when they picked up two penalties in succession — first by Ryan McDonagh and then by Marc Staal, both for high-sticking — the Kings got a power-play goal from Jake Muzzin 4:17 in off assists from former Ranger Marian Gaborik and Anze Kopitar that put the game on ice.
“[Getting] that goal and then being able to come back early in the second … [it was big] to get that next goal and to build on the lead and kind of create the momentum,” Dustin Brown said. “We’re a good team with a lead, so we’ve talked about a good start and playing with a lead and we did it tonight.”