Rangers haven't managed an OT win
The Rangers haven't trailed in regulation for even a second of their series with the Senators, but it's all tied up heading into Saturday night's Game 5.
That's due in large part to the Rangers' postseason nemesis: Overtime.
True, there has been only 3:59 of extra time played in two overtime games, but the Senators have outplayed the Rangers just enough in both OTs to capitalize. That makes seven straight playoff overtime losses for the Rangers dating to the 2007 postseason.
"Those numbers are nice for you guys to throw out there, but we're more only concerned with the last two," Ryan Callahan said Friday after the Rangers practiced at Madison Square Garden. "This series, they've been quick ones, so clearly our starts to OT need to be better."
There's no pattern to the seven OT losses in the last five postseason appearances by the Rangers, though they lost twice in OT last season to the Caps under John Tortorella and with most of these same players.
But this season's team is vastly different from even last season's, with its ability to wear teams down over the course of a game. Perhaps that's one element to the Rangers' lack of success in OT: The short duration of the two overtime games in this series hasn't allowed the Rangers to get in a groove and try to outwork the Senators.
"You do have to seize the opportunity in OT because you don't know if you'll get another shift to try that," said Marc Staal, who jumped up on the play as the Rangers were buzzing the Ottawa net Wednesday but ended up getting caught up ice. Kyle Turris scored at the other end to knot the series.
"It's a matter of being mentally strong, too, and not letting the tiredness get to you," Staal said. "We had a couple great chances to score to start the overtime last game. It's a matter of putting the series behind you and focusing on the next one."
Another factor is how the Rangers have been getting to overtime. They have lost leads in both games, late in Game 2 and midway through Game 4.
"We're not playing to our full potential the last three games, I think, and that's what we need to address," Ruslan Fedotenko said. "We didn't do much grinding, much controlling the puck in those games. Maybe if we do a better job of that, we don't have to worry about overtime."
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