The New York Rangers are struggling to score in the playoffs so far after losing the first two games of their playoff series against the Washington Capitals in DC and as the series shifts to Madison Square Garden on Monday night the team will be looking for an offensive outburst.
Carl Hagelin has the only goal for the Rangers in the series and he scored as the first goal of game one, meaning the team has not scored in quite a while and they may still be reeling from Saturday's 1-0 overtime loss. Henrik Lundqvist was fantastic all game, but the team could not give him any support whatsoever and he ended up with the loss. The two teams have played against each other in three straight series and four of the past five years and after going seven games last season, there is a chance the Caps will make quick work of the Rangers, especially if they win on Monday.
Braden Holtby has been just as good for the entire series and since allowing that goal in Game 1 he has been able to stop every shot to give the Caps the advantage heading into Game 3. All the pressure is on New York on Monday night and after the team battled to get the sixth seed, that appears to be a rough turn of events, as the Capitals are dominating after being the hottest team heading into the playoff just ahead of the Rangers, who went 9-3 down the stretch.
Holtby went 23-12-1 this season and proved himself as a starter after the Caps started off in a slump and the team eventually turned things around to win their division. Capitals coach Adam Oates has been impressed with his play all season and that has propelled the team to the 2-0 victory with a chance to fully take control. The Rangers have had issues scoring all season and the loss of Marc Staal and Ryane Clowe over the past two games has been felt.
Rick Nash and Ryan Callahan will need to step up for the Rangers to have a chance to win and the fans at MSG will be going crazy to help cheer their team on. Since the score in Game 1, the team has not been able to convert for 111 minutes, 16 seconds in the series and the Rangers are hoping that will end soon in Game 1. The team obviously hasn't been scoring so the power play has lacked, but going 0-for-7 with the advantage hasn't helped matters either. The Rangers haven't been able to even generate offense, as the team only had a couple shots over the final 20 minutes on Sunday.
CLICK here for the game stream.