’s next NHL match is on Friday as the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning meet in the fifth match starting at 3:05 p.m. Before that, the Rangers and Tampa will also meet during Finnish time on Wednesday night.
The New York Rangers could almost taste it on the lips: the distance to the finish line in twenty minutes and the goal lead in the hands. Broadway blue shirts were just one installment on Sunday from the reigning double champion Tampa to a 0-3 loss in the Eastern Conference finals.
The taste quickly disappeared from the lips.
Tampa, who came into the third round like a hurricane, immediately created a couple of goal points out of the box, got the guests cold and hit the match levels with superiority. Rangers, who was waiting for a fatal blow, was relieved of his pain in the last minute of the actual game time.
The master had done it again: ached from a really awkward place back in the series.
The Rangers still lead the series 2-1, but the dynamics changed completely in one set.
More than one loss
The Rangers could lose far more than one match on Sunday. Two important players were injured from the team, both of them even penting. Mixed Ryan Strome that Barclay Goodrow got hit in the match and of them Strome missed the match in the second round.
Goodrow, who took a really warm heat on the inside of the foot, played to the end of the match, probably purely with adrenaline. If a Canadian striker’s leg is judged to be broken, there is hardly much wrong.
The injuries are heavier for the Rangers than the loss itself.
Now we are talking about two central strikers who are very important to the team. Strome is the centerpiece of the second top chain and Goodrow, who has celebrated the championship twice in Tampa, is a very important specialist in the brake chain and underpower. It is certain that the team will do its best to paralyze even one of the players by Wednesday.
If the duo watches the fourth match of the series from the sidelines, New York is in the broth. Bottom chain Kevin Rooney is a self-righteous choice for the line-up, but he does not reach the level of Goodrow. Putting Strome at the top of the chain is a virtually unfinished place for Rangers in the middle of the playoff series.
Strome has played Artemi Panarinin and Andrew Coppin and it is likely that Copp, who played as a centerpiece, will move from the edge to the center and instead of a centerpiece, a fellow winger will be sought in the chain.
That, too, is easier said than done.
The Rangers have found a great balance in their lineup in recent weeks, for Mika Zibanejadin and Chris Kreiderin led by number one has worked well, as has the Strome chain. Behind the two top chains, the junior, more familiarly The Kid Line, has been downright excellent in a small and secure role.
Kaapo Kakon, Alexis Lafrenieren and Filip Chytilin the manned chain of juniors was the only Rangers trio even on Sunday to miss out on the plus side in the five-point statistics. In advanced statistics, the junior chain is by far the best entity in New York this spring.
Now the hot question is: if Strome and Goodrow don’t play, how will the lineup be built and what effect will it have?
Kakko and Lafreniere are certainly alternatives to the edge of the second chain, as they have both played in the upper chains throughout the season, but is it worth breaking the junior chain? And if the Kid Line is kept together, where can the pier for the second chain be found?
More minutes promised
It is certain that if so far the junior chain has been played with restraint and a protected role from the beginnings of the offensive head, through the injuries, the eyes turn to the youth department. Junnu gets more responsibility and at the same time the game’s response and expectations grow.
The youth chain of Kako, which plays an excellent spring, may be the rescue of the Rangers in the series, a real Joker card.
The platform for the top chain should be sought elsewhere and give the junior chain more responsibility. The trio has demonstrated their ability to achieve long attack head mills and on the other hand, through small, fast and spectacular feed patterns, the trio, who are well acquainted with each other’s movements, have created numerous goal points and also goals.
There are risks involved in increasing responsibility, but if two key players are missing from the middle lane, something needs to be done. The worst part is staying to play the percentage game and waiting for the last blow from Tampa – and that’s sure to come if the Rangers start to slow down and play it safe, like on Sunday in the third round.
And let’s not forget that the Rangers ’key players have been in a five-on-five relentless alley. For example, after Panarin was on the ice, Tampa has taken the dangerous finish line to its name 13–7. Throughout the series, Tampa has taken the finish line from the first sector by five to five, crushing 40-26.
The Rangers have exactly three strikers who have stayed with this mangel: Kaapo Kakko, Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil. Of the three, the finish score for each of the number one sectors exceeds sixty. The trio have won their game in the draw five to 3-0.
If the old signs are correct, Tampa will tighten the belt continuously as the series progresses. In the playoff games of the series, opponents have not met any oxygen at all in Tampa’s compression. However, Tampa does not have the depths of the past years and that is why the juniors of the three chains have a great place to strike – especially now that the self-confidence of the youth seems to be high.
On Wednesday, the Rangers should hit everything with even a small risk and play more juniors. It has to get Tampa back into bad distress in the first place, especially because of nasty injuries, or otherwise, as has happened to so many teams in the previous two playoffs.
Release the Kid Line!
Also read:
Tampa Bay came up at the last minute – Ondrej Palat overtook the Rangers hero, who had fought almost 50 times