Another disappointing loss for the New York Rangers during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
By Robby Sabo
This is not the Pittsburgh Penguins or Washington Capitals, and the realization of that certainty has to be sinking into the minds of all New York Rangers fans right now.
On Wednesday night, the Rangers fell to the Tampa Bay Lighting by the score of 6-5 in overtime.
One-third of the Triplet’s Line, Nikita Kucherov, beat Henrik Lundqvist, on a shot he stops 99 of 100 times, only 3:33 into the first overtime.
Captain Ryan McDonagh, for some ungodly reason, allowed the skilled Kucherov to get to the middle of the ice on his strong hand. Dan Girardi was on the other side as well, but this turned out to be the result:
The @TBLightning take down the @NYRangers in OT! #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/aQUnaq4enf — NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) May 21, 2015
There’s no question the Rangers were resilient in the game. After holding an early 2-0 lead, they came back to tie the score at four after trailing by two, and then tied it up again with under two-minutes remaining to force overtime.
Again though, silly turnovers near the blue-line – like Dan Boyle’s for example which lead to Tampa’s first goal – happened way too frequently.
The Triplet’s Line was responsible for four of the goals.
The Rangers must find a way to close out the slot and the middle of the ice against this highly skilled, offensive attack from Steven Stamkos’s squad.
Game 4 is scheduled for Friday night in Tampa, where, once again, the Rangers will have their will and resiliency tested.
