NEW YORK – The New York Rangers find themselves in a familiar position. For the third time in as many series this spring, they are facing a 3-2 deficit.
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They erased a 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in the previous round and even overcame a 3-1 deficit to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. They are 5-0 on the verge of elimination.
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What’s different this time is that they just saw the Lightning win three straight, after leading the series 2-0.
The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions are on a roll and know how to close the books on a series, having won 10 in succession.
Add to that that history tells us that the team that wins Game 5 of a series wins 78.5 percent of the time.
“It’s nothing new, we’ve been down 3-2 in all series,” said the forward. Andrew Copp, without even being asked. “We will need to be driven by a strong sense of urgency.
“The confidence level is higher than thinking we have to do it again,” he said. We believe in it. We have just delivered a strong match. We are playing well and the series is very close. We have to get the last big play that makes the difference at the end. »
Here is the problem. The big plays, it’s the Lightning who succeeds.
“This defeat hurts, but the series is not over,” said the defender in turn Jacob Trouba. “We’ve been there. Just go win in Tampa and come back here. You have to tackle the matches one at a time. »
The bruised prey, the Lightning has liquidated them one after the other for two years.
“I expect the Rangers to play their best game ever,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. With the guys they have behind the bench, they’ll be ready. Gerard Gallant is quite a coach. The Rangers are a better team than they were before the playoffs started. They kept improving as the games progressed. I expect nothing less than a colossal effort from them.
“We’d be naive to think it’s in the bag just because we’re going home to play,” Cooper said. This is nothing new for us. We have completed several rounds quite successfully, but we have not always been successful. The goal is to win the series, no matter how many games.
“We haven’t won anything yet. It’s only 3-2. Rangers have proven they can turn the tide and we keep our eyes peeled because we know they can do the same to us,” the manager concluded.
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