NYR – OTT Game 5 Period By Period

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First Period

Long-time Senators enforcer Chris Neil is playing his first post season game for a reason. He’s there to goad Tanner Glass into a fight and try and get the Canadian Tire Centre crowd into a frenzy. The way the Rangers played in games 3 and 4 was way over the Sens heads. Alas, that Ranger team never made it through customs. The team got off to a good start, taking advantage of the over zealous home team with odd man breaks. Jesper Fast scored on a great one time open net shot off a Brendan Smith feed. Just over a minute later Nick Holden was given a lead pass by Jimmy Vesey and he fired it by Craig Anderson’s left shoulder. But this is not the same team we saw the last two games. Just over a minute later, Mark Stone got a loose puck past Henrik Lundqvist to end the Rangers prosperity. From there, they didn’t do any of the things that made them so successful in games 3 and 4. Frequently out of position, where at MSG, they were always in the right place. Lundqvist literally stood on his head, diving from one side of the net to the other in one sequence, to keep the puck out during an Ottawa PP. The hockey in this period was loose, and full of holes. The play had an eerily similar feel to game 2. Neil tries to get Glass to fight, but smartly, the Rangers aren’t granting that request. It becomes obvious that Neil is dressed for that one reason since his ice time his extremely limited. Ottawa did outshoot the Rangers 15-10, with Lundqvist being the only reason New York has a lead.

Second Period

This period starts with less emotion. But as it unfolds, the Blueshirts are not inspiring any confidence. They are constantly leaving gaps they weren’t leaving at home. Senators chances are getting better and better, as the mistakes all over the ice reach epidemic proportions. Rick Nash gives the puck away in the offensive zone, which leads to an odd man rush by Ottawa. The backchecking Rangers fail to pick up the wide open Mike Hoffman, who has time to brush his teeth, before firing the puck into a wide open net. And, about 30 seconds later, on the next rush into the Rangers zone, Zack Smith fires from an angle and the puck hits off Tom Pyatt and redirects in, to make it 3-2. Meanwhile the Rangers attempts at offense basically looks like a team trying to pass the puck into the net, with too many Rangers afraid to shoot, unless they see a yawning net. J.T. Miller has been guilty of this for not only the entire postseason (11 games), but for the last 10 games of the regular season as well. Michael Grabner, one of the few Rangers willing to shoot, grabbed a rebound, right before the end of the period and banks it off Ryan McDonagh and in to tie the game.

Third Period

Marc Staal, who has had a terrible series, gives the puck away and allows a breakaway to Bobby Ryan. Lundqvist makes a big stop to save Staal’s bacon. Chris Kreider gets a breakaway of his own but is thwarted by Anderson. It seems like whenever Staal is on the ice, fans have their hearts in their throats. His puck handling and skating are a big issue in this one. With just over seven minutes left, Derek Stepan wins an offensive zone draw and gets it to Brady Skjei, who sends the puck on goal. Anderson leaves a rebound to his left, and Jimmy Vesey makes a spectacular dive and backhand shot in one motion, and gets the puck over the goal line, despite Anderson’s heroic glove attempt. It was the type of effort by Vesey, that should have won the game. That it didn’t, is an indictment of the entire team. Pretty much from the ensuing faceoff, the Sens kept the pressure on. Giving up open shots, allowing long possessions in their zone, constant icings, all the absolute wrong things to do when trying to win a playoff game. And of course, after a few icings in a row, the soft Rangers defense allowed the puck to constantly get to the net, when Smith kicked it into his own net.

Overtime

You would have to be the most delusional Rangers fan to have a positive feeling entering overtime. They did nothing well after the superhuman effort goal by Vesey. When the puck drops it almost immediately goes into the Rangers zone, and barely ever leaves. The ONE time it did, the puck actually did wind up in the Ottawa net. But, unfortunately, Grabner whacked it in with a high stick. So the only Ranger shot of the overtime was wiped off the board. Ottawa went right back to controlling play as the Rangers hung around and watched. On a play that started behind the Ottawa net, the puck went up the ice and into the New York zone, like a hot knife through butter. Kyle Turris gained the zone, with too much room and speed, and shot it into Dan Girardi. The puck came right back to Turris, who fired again and beat Lundqvist between the legs to end the blueshirts misery. Three playoff games with leads, tied with under 2 minutes left. All three were played with the Rangers in a defensive shell, trying to kill the ticking clock, and making the worst, most panicked type of hockey plays. I believe they will come back and win game 6 in the Garden. But their play in Ottawa gives me no confidence that this team can win a game 7 there, despite being the clearly better team.

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