• Rangers get goals from low places
• Karlsson injury causes scare
• Lundqvist continues to win goalie duel
With only game on the schedule Thursday, the entire hockey world had their eyes turned to the Big Apple for Game 4 between the New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators.
The series is now tied at two games apiece and emotions are running high. Here are three things we learned.
Is a fourth line really a fourth line if it can produce?
The best playoff teams can roll four lines pretty evenly without worry and lately the New York Rangers have been able to do that. In Game 4, that continued with three of the four goals coming off plays made by the Rangers’ bottom-six.
Tanner Glass and Oscar Lindberg were the heroes on Thursday, even though they are guys who aren’t expected to contribute much. Lindberg had two goals in the game including the winner. Glass assisted on both of them.
Lindberg also scored in Game 3 of this series but before that hadn’t scored since April 2. Glass, 33, spent most of the season in the AHL but now has four points in five playoff games. And they both did it in under 11 minutes of ice time.
After the game, Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault was asked about the performance of his bottom-line guys and he had nothing but praise for them.
Of course, as the game was coming to a close and the score was out of reach, the fourth-line guys fell back into their expected roles: filling up the penalty box.
Some things never change.
Get back to the office in no time with BPs New Half-Time Lunch and $10 Combos. Dine-In Only. Click here to learn more.
How hurt is Erik Karlsson?
Ever since the end of Round 1, everyone has known that Erik Karlsson has been battling a pretty bad foot injury. But he was fighting through it.
Until Game 4.
Karlsson left at the end of the second period with a very pained look on his face and didn’t return to the game. Could his injury be finally catching up to him?
Karlsson played a playoff-low 14:54 in the game. After the game, head coach Guy Boucher said Karlsson could have returned but they decided to be cautious. He added Karlsson should be healthy enough to play in Game 5 on Saturday afternoon.
Even if he does play in Game 5, it’s clear that Karlsson is in pain. We likely won’t hear the full extent of his injuries until the Senators season is over. The team goes as he does, so if he can’t keep up his spectacular play from earlier in the playoffs, the Rangers will be the ones advancing to Round 3.
This situation could appear similar to the one facing the Pittsburgh Penguins and their injured captain, Sidney Crosby. But the Penguins have a deeper roster that can soften the blow of a major injury. The Senators do not.
As the last three games have shown, Ottawa’s defence is simply not the same without Karlsson at 100 per cent.
And that could be a real problem for them for the rest of the playoffs.
[snippet id=3317575]
Henrik Lundqvist continues to shine
Two questions are emerging from this series and their answers are the same.
1. Why can’t the Senators score any goals?
2. Who is winning the goaltending duel?
Both answers are Henrik Lundqvist, who put together another solid, 22-save performance on Thursday. He continues to roll, especially at home, where the Senators have only scored two goals on him so far this series.
His counterpart, Craig Anderson, was less than stellar. He gave up three goals on 20 shots and didn’t get a chance to play in the third period. Anderson has now given up three goals or more in each of the last three games in this series.
Lundqvist, on the other hand, has simply looked more focused. Just look at how he fights through a crowd to get across and rob Mark Stone with his pad. That’s hard to do.
That’s a goalie ready to go. And four games in, the Senators don’t have an answer for him.
Boucher confirmed after the game that Anderson was taken out for the third period to rest, but he will be back for Game 5. While Anderson needs to be better, the Senators won’t go anywhere if they can’t beat Lundqvist.
[relatedlinks]
