Rangers may have to take more risks in Game 3 against Hurricanes
Seeking answers on offense, first win of Eastern Second Round
It didn't happen in Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at the Carolina Hurricanes. It has to happen in Game 3 at home Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN360, SN(JIP), TVAS) or the Rangers might finally find themselves in too deep of a hole.
Carolina leads the best-of-7 series after a 2-1 overtime win in Game 1 on Wednesday and a 2-0 win in Game 2 on Friday.
"I want more offense from our top players and I'm sure [Hurricanes coach Rod] Brind'Amour is saying the same thing," New York coach Gerard Gallant said. "But they're 2-0 and we're 0-2 so we've got to find a way to get a little bit more."
It's easier said than done against the Hurricanes, who allowed the fewest goals per game in the regular season (2.44) -- a hair better than the Rangers (2.49), who ranked second -- and had the best penalty kill too (88.0 percent).
"We have a good defense," Brind'Amour said. "We have a really solid group back there. You're going to have to earn your chances for the most part against us. That's both teams. We're not getting much going the other way either. Both teams are fighting for every inch out there."
Brind'Amour is right. The Rangers are defending just as well as the Hurricanes, limiting scoring chances and second-chance opportunities, keeping the middle of the ice clean, keeping Carolina to the outside. Igor Shesterkin has had to make a few big saves but hasn't had to be Superman.
New York has a 49-48 edge in shots on goal through two games. Carolina has a 119-113 advantage in shot attempts. Shesterkin has allowed three goals in two games and lost both.
"They had nine chances last night and we had five or six, so it was a defensive battle," Gallant said. "So, I'm not going to blame our guys for not creating scoring chances. Their guys didn't have a whole lot either."
But of the Hurricanes' four goals in the series, center Sebastian Aho, who led Carolina with 81 points (37 goals, 44 assists) in the regular season, has points on three. He scored the tying goal with 2:23 left in the third period of Game 1 and had the primary assist on Brendan Smith's shorthanded goal at 16:54 of the second period in Game 2. Aho also scored an empty-net goal to seal Carolina's win in Game 2.
Teuvo Teravainen, the left wing on Aho's line since the third period of Game 1, assisted on Aho's tying goal and Smith's go-ahead goal. Seth Jarvis, the right wing with Aho and Teravainen, also has an assist.
The Rangers, meanwhile, have no points from their top six forwards. The lone goal came from their third line, with Filip Chytil scoring off a pass from Alexis Lafreniere 7:07 into the first period of Game 1.
Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider did not have a shot on goal in Game 2 after combining for three in Game 1. Mika Zibanejad had two shots in each of the first two games.
Panarin, Kreider and Zibanejad combined for 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists) in seven games in the first round against the Pittsburgh Penguins, when the Rangers came back from trailing the series 3-1. Zibanejad scored the tying goal with 5:45 left in the third period of Game 7, and Panarin scored on the power play in overtime for a 4-3 win.
The lack of power-play time in Game 1 (27 seconds) and the struggles with the man-advantage in Game 2 (0-for-4, two shots on goal, shorthanded goal against) have played a role in the lack of offense from Panarin, Kreider, Zibanejad, defenseman Adam Fox and forward Ryan Strome.
"I'm seeing a great penalty kill put a lot of pressure on them and we didn't find the inside man very often in the slot, the bumper guy," Gallant said. "They put a lot of pressure and we just didn't adjust quick enough. Got to compete a little harder, I think."
But the difference between how the Rangers' top players played against the Penguins versus how they're playing against the Hurricanes comes down to risk.
They played with more risk against Pittsburgh because the games weren't being played as tightly defensively. There was more open ice and players like Panarin, Kreider, Zibanejad and Fox took advantage of it.
Yes, there were turnovers that fueled the Penguins' transition at times, but there was also a reward on the offensive end for the Rangers.
New York might have to increase the risk in its game Sunday because without it in Games 1 and 2 there was no reward.
"Get more pucks to the net, more bodies to the net, more traffic," defenseman Jacob Trouba said. "Create your own look, create your own bounces. That's got to be a little more of our mindset."
