Sidney Crosby’s injury in Thursday morning’s match could reverse the direction of the entire match series. At least it reversed the direction of a single match. Kaapo Kakko of the New York Rangers opens up what kind of Crosby to play against.
A big turning point in the match series between the New York Rangers and the Pittsburgh Penguins could be seen early Thursday morning. Pittsburgh, who led the game 3 to 1, took the lead with two goals when New York defender Jacob Trouba the captain of the guests and the most important player Sidney Crosbya straight to the head.
Confused, Crosby tried to return to the trough but left the game about seven minutes before the end of the second set.
In the next five minutes, Rangers scored three goals and moved to a 3-2 lead in the match. In the end, Broadway’s pride rolled to a 5-3 win and narrowed the wins in the match series to 2-3.
The sixth match in the series will be played on Saturday in Pittsburgh.
– Did you see that tackle, Pittsburgh Pilot Mike Sullivan tightened after a match from a reporter who asked about Crosby’s condition.
“Then you must have the same opinion as me,” Sullivan said.
What will happen to Pittsburgh if Crosby doesn’t play?
Trouban’s questionable Taklaus could not have hit a more important player for Pittsburgh. Overall, Crosby, 34, has been in an incredible stroke in the first-round playoff series.
In a stroke that Rangers had not found Crosby, in a terrible finish Jake Guentzelin mixed Bryan Rustin still a stop for the number one chain.
On Thursday, the trio slammed their team’s opening goal and anyway than against Rangers ’number one.
However, one goal was only a small part of the whole, as you can read from the statistics below.
Such readings are terribly harsh, especially in playoffs.
– That’s completely true. Especially the last couple of matches they were in a really hard hit. They feel like they’re creating a goal spot on every turn when they’re on the ice. It is quite clear that stopping that chain is important to us, Rangers Kaapo Kakko says Sport.
Although Guentzel, the leader of the playoffs, made one more hit after Crosby’s injury Yevgeny Malkin from the introduction, it is clear that the possible absence of the captain from the next match in the series would sway the weights significantly in advance.
Posture business
For Rangers, the win on Thursday was important for two reasons: first, it had to wash its face after two classlessly weak matches in Pittsburgh. It lost both away games and released as many as fourteen hits in two games. In the latter match, it lost 1st-place finishers by five to five against 1-20!
The win was also important because the loss would have ended the team’s season.
– At the level we played in Pittsburgh, these games are not won. The reason we lost there was clearly that we were really bad ourselves. It didn’t help to look in the mirror, Kakko sighs.
In the fourth match of the series, the Rangers lost 2-7.
– It was immediately discussed among the players how it went. But it was a bypass and in the end it’s just the same with what kind of readings these lose, it’s just one loss. We didn’t stay to think about it, we kept moving forward.
Kakko himself has played together in the youth chain named “Kid line” in the series Filip Chytilin22, and Alexis Lafrenieren, 20, with. Kakko tapped the first playoff goal in the second playoff series of his NHL career in Pittsburgh and on Thursday he kicked off an important 2-2 draw for Lafrenier.
– Playing has felt good, although my own role is now smaller after the injury. I used to play in the first-second chain, now in the third. However, I’m not worried about it now, I’m just trying to help the team.
There is enough work
From Rangers ’point of view, however, nothing will change even after the victory: it must continue to win. Only two consecutive wins guarantee a ticket to the second round. To win, it must still be able to develop its game. One aspect of the game that New York should be getting into is getting started.
On Thursday, it lost starts by 33-67 percent and 40-60 in the previous match. The starting percentages for a series of matches are recorded after Pittsburgh 58-42 after five matches.
Rangers best beginner, Mika Zibanejadin the starting rate is 45.4 and the best in Pittsburgh, Teddy Bluegerin 72.0.
The Rangers (48%) did not excel in the starting round either in the regular season. Playing against a quality team like Pittsburgh will be difficult if you have to constantly chase the game back after starting.
– This has been talked about all season and sometimes the coaches have said that things need to be done about this. Of course, getting started is a co-operation these days, but it’s not nice to have a berth if you have to be the first to go bitter or defend. Through this, too, we could get more focus on the attack, Kakko says.
– But yes, the guys have worked hard for this.
The series continues early Saturday morning in Pittsburgh. You can continue with four wins.