1. Hank has allowed 2, 2, 2 goals per game thus far. If we were told at the start Hank would allow 2 goals each in the first 3 games, against one of the best O's in the NHL, we would have signed on in a second. And I'd say worst case we'd be up 2-1. The dude was beaten on two breakaways by the best player in the league, and another very good player who is great on the break. And he also stopped two breakaways. And guess what...WE HAVE BEEN SHUTOUT BACK TO BACK GAMES. So no matter what Hank had done it didn't matter. Being shutout back to back by MAF and Pitt is sad. So I really don't want to hear anything about Hank. This is not on him one drop. He cannot score. 2. I do think we are tired. Thinking back to last night, even though I feel we controlled a lot of the game, I think we were running on fumes a lot of it. BUT that is not an excuse to score 0 goals back to back games. What has hurt us way more than being tired is our joke PP. If we even have 2 PPG's in this series we are up 2-1. So you want to point at something, point at the PP not being tired. And BTW...it is mental now...no doubt. We were so tight last night and you could clearly see it. It is in our heads that we cannot score. These players are not stupid. Not being able to score against Pitt and that goalie is shocking to them...and you could see it as we hit post after post, and got more and more frustrated. 3. Nash is a joke now. 22 playoff games as a Ranger and 1 goal. That is a trend. That is what he is. That is not a few game slump. The next time that guy goes in front and scores a dirty goal let me know. He is soft and too nice. Plays with no mean streak at all. If we manage to lose these next two games and he does nothing, do we just bring this guy back and smile? I mean we have no choice due to shitty play and a NTC, but wow that is rough. Nash needs some balls. That is his issue IMO. Flat out joke now. And BTW...shout out to Stepan who disappears in the playoffs every season. He doesn't make 7.8 mill per and isn't expected to be a star to carry us, but still a joke really. 4. We need to score first in game 4. I kept saying last night if we got 1 goal things would open up for us and we'd loosen up, and I believe that. And that goal never happened...and we got tighter and tighter. That is why I wanted just 1 goal late to get us ready for game 4...never happened. So now we enter game 4 with the monkey on our back big time. That is why the 1st goal is huge. We get it and play with a lead and I think things fall into place...I really do. If Pitt scores it, especially early, I fear things could get ugly for us. We need to get the monkey off our backs and score 1st. Then I bet we play well and have a great shot to win game 4 and be right back in the series tied 2-2...anyone's series at that point. Just need 1 goal to get us started...I truly believe that.
Richards said, “We might be frustrated right now but it does no good, we are in the middle of a series and out of the three games we have played two real good ones. We can be frustrated a little bit because we didn’t get it done tonight but really, we get some sleep and build on the fact that we have played some good games in the series. We are going to score, that is gonna happen and when we do we will get momentum and be alright.” Alain Vigneault on tonight’s game…“We had some chances but couldn’t make them pay. We made a couple of mistakes. That’s hockey.” Henrik Lundqvist on preparing for Game 4…“It’s first to four wins, we just need to take a deep breath here and regroup tomorrow and just get ready for the next one. That’s going to be a very important game for us. This is definitely not over. We’re playing well and creating chances. There are a couple things we can probably do better. Let’s not over think this, just take a day here tomorrow to reload and get ready for a very big game.” Ryan McDonagh on playing from behind…“They do a good job playing with the lead, but we have to find ways to bring pucks to the net a little bit more. They do a good job of blocking shots. We just have to throw pucks off to the side and try to jam. Especially when he’s (Marc Andre Fleury) on his game, really seeing it, not giving up a lot of rebounds either. In those situations we have to take a read and try to bring one to the net and get an ugly one.”
I think they are dead on. And we outshot Pitt 24-12 when it was 5 on 5. We played pretty well last night IMO, just could not score. The question for game 4 is are we so exhausted mentally now that we come out with a feeling of what's the point and get rolled by Pitt. OR do we come out saying we controlled a lot of game 3, just get a win in game 4 and we have a long series that could go either way. That is the question...and to me the 1st goal tells it all. HUGE IMO.
