Trading chances paid off for Rangers in Game 3, but what about Game 4?
New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin, left, saves a shot by Carolina Hurricanes center Steven Lorentz during the third period of Game 3 of a second-round playoff series, Sunday, May 22, 2022, in New York. Credit: AP/Adam Hunger
Did the Rangers make a conscious effort, after two straight low-scoring losses in their second-round playoff series to the Carolina Hurricanes, to open things up a bit in order to create more offense in Game 3?
Coach Gerard Gallant said they did not.
“I wish I could say that,’’ Gallant said Monday following the Rangers’ brief, optional practice in preparation for Game 4 Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. “I mean, I just can't turn the offense on when I want it. I never tell the guys ‘Let’s not play offense tonight. Let's just get the puck out of our zone.' That's never part of what I want our team to do."
The Rangers and Hurricanes both played close to the vest in Games 1 and 2, with neither team creating much offensively. The Hurricanes ended up winning both games, taking Game 1 in overtime, 2-1, and Game 2, 2-0, including an empty-net goal in the final seconds. After both games, Gallant expressed pride in how well his team played and pointed out that either game could have gone either way.
But after scoring only one goal in the first two games, Gallant knew something had to change if the Rangers were to get back into the series. He switched up his forward lines, and that seemed to help, at least as far as creating more offensive chances.
It was never the plan to trade high-danger chances with the Hurricanes, but the game opening up clearly worked in the Rangers’ favor, mostly because goaltender Igor Shesterkin, the likely Vezina Trophy winner this season as the NHL’s best goalie, was razor-sharp in making 43 saves and holding Carolina to a single goal in the 3-1 win.
So, is that the way the Rangers need to play in Game 4 Tuesday? Trade chances and rely on Shesterkin — whose save percentage was up to .921 entering the night — to keep them in the game?
Not according to veteran defenseman Justin Braun.
“You still don't want to give up breakaways, two-on-ones,’’ Braun said Monday. “We still have to be smart defensively. Pushing for that offense can kind of bite you sometimes, if you're jumping four guys in the rush and you don't get the opportunity. You miss the net, and they're coming back the other way. So, it's a little slow, give-and-take there. You’ve got to be pushing for offense, but you’ve also got to be careful with a tight series like this."
As a stay-at-home defenseman, Braun said he would prefer to play a tighter style, rather than going end-to-end for 60 (or more) minutes.
“Games 1 and 2, I don't think we gave up much,’’ he said. “Creating stuff is not really my forte . . . If you're going out there and, you know, hold them to just a few shots when you're out there, keep them to the perimeter, that's what I want to do night in and night out.’’
In Games 1 and 2, the Rangers allowed 26 and 22 shots on goal, respectively. In Game 3, that number went up to 44. Shesterkin said the high number of shots wasn’t that much of a problem because many of them were low-percentage looks from far out and wide angles. Of course, the one goal he allowed came on Nino Niederreiter’s mid-circle backhand attempt from the right, a soft goal he admitted he should have stopped.
Still, Shesterkin enters Tuesday having faced 368 shots in the playoffs, tied with Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy for the most in the postseason. And Carolina’s style always has favored piling up a lot of shots on goal.
Braun agreed that the quality of shots allowed is more of a concern than the number allowed, but he said he doesn’t like giving up that many shots, either.
“If they're just coming over the blue line and shooting, that's one thing. That's not really going to hurt you," he said. “But if you're giving up 44, and they're [from the] outside, or you're giving up 25 and they're getting seven grade-A [chances], it's tough to pick which one you want. You obviously don't want the grade-A's, but you also don't want to give up 44 shots.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
