Rangers coach Gerard Gallant's focus: 'Move on, get ready for the next one'
Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren (55) deflects a shot by Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) during the second overtime of Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series Tuesday, May 3, 2022. Credit: AP
GREENBURGH, N.Y. – Rangers coach Gerard Gallant admitted that the original plan for his team had been to practice on Wednesday, but a day after the Blueshirts lost Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3, in triple overtime, it made more sense for Gallant to keep the players off the ice, instead.
“You're not going to skate your team after six periods of hockey,’’ he said.
The focus Wednesday, Gallant said, was to “move on, get ready for the next one.’’ That will be Thursday at Madison Square Garden, when the Rangers try to tie the best-of-seven series at 1-1.
“I mean, it was a battle last night and we came out the short end of the stick,’’ Gallant said. “But it's one game, so you’ve got to move on, you know? No big deal. We would have loved to have won it, but you’ve got to battle back and win the next one.’’
The Rangers dominated play in the first period Tuesday, holding a massive edge in the physicality department with several huge body checks, and a 15-10 advantage in shots on goal. They took a 1-0 lead on Adam Fox’s power-play goal 9:19 into the game, and made it 2-0 on Andrew Copp’s goal at 3:08 of the second.
But just 1:28 after Copp’s goal, Pittsburgh got the first of two goals from Jake Guentzel to get back in the game. And very quickly the Penguins took the game over, outshooting the Rangers 25-8 in the second period. Guentzel’s second goal tied it 2-2. Chris Kreider’s shorthanded goal briefly gave the Rangers the lead back, at 3-2, but Bryan Rust tapped one in at the back post on a five-on-three power play to make it 3-3.
“That first period we were real good, and even at the start of the second,’’ Fox said. “And then the tide kind of turned there, and I think we let the game get away from us … They had 25 shots in the second period and, you know, it's tough to hold a lead when you're giving up that many shots, that many chances.’’
A potential go-ahead goal by Filip Chytil with 3:10 left in regulation time was overturned on video review after a challenge by Pittsburgh, with Kaapo Kakko ruled to have interfered with Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith. The Penguins then also survived losing DeSmith to an injury midway through the second overtime before winning it at 5:58 of the third overtime on a deflection goal by Evgeny Malkin.
Gallant, a veteran coach who won the Jack Adams Award as Coach of the Year in 2018 after leading the expansion Vegas Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final, did his best to project calm when asked about the Rangers’ situation now, trailing 1-0 in the series.
He’d rather be in this situation, he said, than that of Nashville, which lost 7-2 to Colorado on Tuesday.
“It'd be harder if we were playing Colorado, probably the best team in the league, and you lose (7-2) where, you know, you're saying your team, 'How are we going to get back from this?' ’’ he said.
“We're playing a very good team (in Pittsburgh), and it's going to be a battle,’’ he said. “So you know what, it's one game. You get over it, and you move on. I mean, last night it was tough. No doubt. The game's over, you lose in the six-period battle, and you lose your home ice (advantage). But we still believe we're a real good team. We still believe we're going to win this series. So that's the thing I'm going to take from this, and (Thursday) night's a big game for us now.’’
ONE FOR THE BOOKS
Igor Shesterkin made 79 saves, a franchise record and the second-most saves in a game in NHL history, behind the Columbus Blue Jackets’ Joonas Korpisalo’s 85 saves in a loss to Tampa Bay on Aug. 11, 2020. The Islanders’ Kelly Hrudey is third on the all-time list, with 73 saves in the Easter Epic. Gump Worsley held the previous Rangers record, with 56 saves in a double-OT 3-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1962.
It was the eighth triple-OT game in Rangers franchise history, and first since Game 3 of the second-round series against Washington in 2012 (a game won on a goal by Marian Gaborik at 14:41 of the third OT). The longest game in Rangers history was a 1930 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, which ended at 8:52 of the fourth overtime.
The game was the longest in the history of the modern Madison Square Garden, surpassing the Game 6 Stanley Cup semifinal vs. Chicago, which the Rangers won, 3-2, on Pete Stemkowski’s goal at 1:29 of the third OT.
Defenseman K’Andre Miller, playing in his first NHL playoff game, and Adam Fox, playing in his first postseason game other than the 2020 bubble play-in tournament, led the Rangers in ice time with 44:28 each, the third-highest ice time in franchise history, behind Ryan McDonagh (53:17) and Marc Staal (49:34), both in that 2012 game against Washington.
The Rangers were outshot 83-68. Both the 83 shots allowed and the 68 shots they took are franchise records.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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