Tampa, Fla. – New York Rangers coach Gerard Gallant sits in the conference room at Amali Arena to discuss how his team’s formidable Stanley Cup playoff ended in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Coach John Cooper was sitting across the wall, surrounded by Tampa Bay Lightning Conference Championship hats and a very different vibe.
“Gerard Gallant is going to be here too late,” Cooper said, pointing to the winners’ platform.
That could have happened this week. The Rangers took a 2-0 series lead over Tampa Bay. Goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin played well until the conference final with 2 wins of his seven-game round against the Carolina Hurricanes. In Game 3, he will save 49, but could not stop the biggest shot of the tournament: Ondrej Palt’s goal in the 42-second regulation, brilliantly set by Nikita Kucherov, gave Lightning a new lease of life in the series.
This will be a common theme for the next three matches. The goal is to level the game 4 after Pat Maroon’s tally in the first game or the second goal in Game 5 which could have prevented more palette heroics in the last two minutes of regulation or in Game 6. Goalkeeper Steven Stamkos to get overtime after answering his power-play tally in the third period.
“We played well,” said Gallant. We struggled hard. We had a chance to win all those matches, but he found the right way at the right time. “
His Tampa Bay counterpart often talks about how the loss of Lightning to Columbus Blue Jacket in the first round of 2019 was a turning point for his team. The Lightning has won 11 consecutive playoff series since then – Cooper told former jacket coach John Tortore that he “made a monster” out of the win – and learned an important lesson against Columbus: Nothing is gained unless it is achieved.
“We don’t care how it is done. It just has to be done,” Stamkos said.
Lightning had lost two of the last three seasons in the conference finals. His 128-point regular season in 2018-19 was the best in NHL history. Everything points to his going to the Stanley Cup. After four games, he deserved the league’s laugh.
The Rangers should learn a lesson from the final defeat of this East Council. The hope that the Rangers are “next” is on the pages of CapFriendly, from John Cooper’s mouth, to the Rangers team that is right in terms of age and salary space. Will be hungry to come back. But success is unthinkable.
Now comes the hard part.
Here are some lessons for the Rangers to take away from their lightning damage so that they can take the next step.
Lesson # 1: Win the Battle of Sacrifice
This is the key to the most successful playoff run. The Rangers should be applauded for their restraint in rallying to win two playoff series in the seventh game, but the cost and tweak they had with them against the Lightning was more comfortable.
“It’s hard. When you go seven, you go seven, you go six … It was their 20th playoff game in 40 days,” Cooper said.
There is a switch for the championship-caliber team that flips for the championship-caliber team when they know that spending so much energy in the first two rounds can be detrimental to the next round. The Lightning learned of Cooper’s first visit to the Stanley Cup final in 2015, winning a seven-game first-round series against the Detroit Red Wings, a six-match series against the Montreal Canadiens, and a subsequent seven-match series. Rangers. Won. The Chicago Blackhawks, who beat them in the Cup final, defeated the Minnesota Wild in the final.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have not pushed them to the limit this year since the Lightning did not play a seven-game series in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
“Sometimes it can be the end of a playoff battle,” Cooper said. “I think in the end, the lockout helped us and no lockout hurt them and the long chain. He just wanted to play a lot of games. “
Lesson 2: Don’t let your opponent get off the mat
Cooper likes to say that he knows the series has “changed in the second eight minutes of Game 2”. While this is true, Lightning lost that game and the Rangers took a 2-0 lead at 9:44 in the second period of Game 3 of the series. Lightning rallied to win that game and then won three in a row.
Probably a factor as to why they’re doing so poorly. Lightning won two straight Stanley Cups for a reason. But the champion closed the door as soon as he got the chance. Often only star players help to overcome it. See what Stamkos and Kucherov gave lightning in the last few games of the conference final. The Rangers don’t have that guy. At least so far. Fingers are still crossed on Alexis Lafrenier.
GM Chris Drury was right in his assessment of the Rangers. “There are definitely no games left throughout the season,” he added. “I think we as a group understand how intense the playoffs are. We have shown that we can play this way and handle difficult and intense experiences. “
But playing well in adverse conditions is not enough. It has to be overcome. And to do so would be to score more than one goal in each of his last three playoff defeats.
Lesson # 3: Increase your strengths, reduce your weaknesses
The Rangers’ playoff run ended in an exact sync. Game 6 saw Shesterkin play another great game, saving a highlight reel; And in it the Rangers scored their only goal on a power play, ending with a 32.1% conversion rate, the best since the season.
It turned out that the regular season was a precursor. The Rangers were defined as a team drawn into the playoffs by the Heart Trophy-nominated goalscorers and their elite power play, which compensated for the inadequacy of the 5-on-5 game. In the Eastern Conference Final, the Rangers scored two equal-power goals after the first period of Game 2.
Gallant said Lightning is “a big, big defensive team” and that’s true. He also said that the inability to score despite the strength of the Rangers was a product of fatigue, which is partly true. He earned 47% of 5-on-5 shots effort in the regular season; He earned 44.9% shot effort in the playoffs. He scored 47% of the expected goals in the regular season; He scored 39.2% of the expected goals in the playoffs.
It was exactly what we thought it would be: a team with an all-world goalkeeper, an exceptional power play and four lines that also lose with equal strength.
“Let’s be honest: when you have a [great] Goltender, he can hide some of the flaws in your team, “said Cooper.” I’ll be the first to stand in line and raise my hand. [Andrei] Vasilyevsky has done it for us. When you break up, you need someone out there who can keep you in the game. “
What’s next?
The good news is: the Rangers have a very strong foundation on which to build and the flexibility of that building.
It starts with Shesterkin. He earns वार्षिक 5,666,667 a year, compared to the salary cap by 2024-25, a deal that looks more spectacular than savings.
“It was my first real look at him. He has complete decency. He reminds me of our son. He gives his team a lot of confidence. He’s the difference,” Cooper said.
Norris Trophy-winning defender Adam Fox is 24 years old and signed with an annual cap hit of .5 9.5 million by 2028-29 – another notable Drew deal. Fox’s defense partner Ryan Lindgren is just 24 years old and earns $ 3 million a year for the next two seasons before becoming an RFA. K’Andre Miller, 22, is a banned free agent. The 20-year-old Braden Schneider has two other strong young defenders, who played 43 regular-season games for him and 20 more in the playoffs; Nils Lundquist, 21, who has seen 25 games in action this season; And Zack Jones, 21, who has been in the NHL for two seasons.
Further, this playoff signaled the arrival of 22-year-old Philip Chital as an offensive force. The 20-year-old Lafrenier showed many glimpses of an all-round exceptional game. (It remains to be seen where they go with Capo Kako, his “kid line” linemate and the banned free agent scratched in Game 6.) The legendary star is in his prime: Mika Zibnezad, by any measure. One more star than one, 29; Chris Cradder is 31 years old, but he still has wheels; And Artemi Panarin is 30 years old.
According to CapFriendly, the Rangers have more than 24.5 million in open cap space this off-season. Some of that money will be kept to bring back the players. Will they sign trade deadline pickup Andrew Coupe? And if so, what does that mean for Center Ryan Storm, Panarin’s favorite pivot? They bring back Tyler Mote and Frank Watrano, who are top-line players for them in the latter playoffs?
“When you have the core, they’re in the front and some of the defenders come in and they have the goaltender. That’s a great recipe,” Cooper said.
Now they need to find the right ingredients to elevate the dish. The 5-on-5 strongest player he played for from 2012-13 to the 2017-18 trade deadline is rumored to be trying to trade for Vancouver Canucks forward Jetty Miller. Maybe they are looking for star players when they are some distance from the salary range. Heck, steal the best: Pallet is an unrestricted free agent this summer.
One thing is for sure: now the focus is on the Stanley Cup. Any echoes in the “letter” and a quick rebuild of the team – Panarin and Fox fell on their knees, won the draft lottery and the rise of Schusterkin really set things right, didn’t it? – Gone. After Game 6 you saw it in the players’ shattered faces.
Zibnejad said, “I feel like I’m denied right now. It’s just empty. I don’t want to end it. “
Lightning has shown how to experience and concentration from circumcision. They have also shown that being ‘next’ is not enough. Rangers should correct their faults with internal and external help. They should learn a lesson from this race, which had good luck – like penguin and hurricane injuries – because it was a dominant sport.
Do that and Gerard Gallant will sit at the table wearing a championship hat, instead of reducing the season with him.