The Rangers understand the context of the situation, but they’re trying to block all of that context out. Because the minute they take their focus off the immediate task at hand is when that big picture can start to look dire — again.
And so it’s with that mindset that they prepare for Game 4 of their second-round series against the Senators on Thursday night at the Garden. Following two disheartening losses in Ottawa to start the series, the Blueshirts put together an emphatic Game 3 win at home on Tuesday, a comprehensive, 4-1 victory that got them back into the series while cutting the Senators’ lead in the best-of-seven contest to 2-1.
As nice as it would be to think about the series being 2-2 going back up there for Game 5 on Saturday afternoon, that can’t be the Rangers’ focus — and it isn’t.
“It’s pretty obvious that it’s a lot better position to go up there 2-2 than being down 3-1, that would be a really tough spot. But right now, I think it’s important we don’t think about the series,” goalie Henrik Lundqvist said after Wednesday’s practice at the Garden. “We just take [Game 4] and focus on that and try to make the most of it. The preparation and how we execute, it’s all about that.”
The Rangers know their opponent is going to be better. Really, there are not a lot of ways they can be worse after a Game 3 performance that Ottawa coach Guy Boucher said was “a slap in the face.” So just as the Rangers were desperate to win Game 3, so will the Senators be desperate to win Game 4, knowing that going home tied after leading 2-0 will put all the momentum on the Rangers’ side.
But coach Alain Vigneault wanted to put things in a little bit of short-term perspective before his team — or anybody else — got ahead of themselves.
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“At the end of the day, all we’ve done is win one game,” Vigneault said. “That’s all we’ve done. So we’re going to need a better effort [in Game 4]. We’re going to need a complete game from start to finish, and that’s what we talked about.”
It doesn’t have to be reiterated to the Blueshirts that they have played pretty well despite the status of the series. They have only trailed for 4:11 of the total 202:54 of game time through the first three games, but they also know that guarantees them nothing.
“To tie it up, it’s going to be a more challenging game, and they’re going to be more desperate this time,” Lundqvist said. “We’re just going to have to match it.”
What the performance in Game 3 did give the Rangers was a sense of things turning in their favor. They lost Game 1 on a shot that banked in off the back of Lundqvist’s head, then lost Game 2 after they blew three separate two-goal leads, including a 5-3 cushion with under four minutes to play in regulation before losing in double overtime.
But they were on top of the puck from the start of Game 3 and never allowed a bad bounce to undo them. Now they do have the momentum, as fleeting as it can be.
“Momentum shifts from period to period, shift to shift, game to game,” Vigneault said. “[Game 3] is behind us. The most important game we have right now is the one that we have in front of us [on Thursday]. We’re getting ready for it.”
So the Blueshirts weren’t getting ready for what a win or a loss will bring. They were only getting ready to play one game and see where it takes them.
“You just have to push yourself and just need to understand how important the game is,” Lundqvist said. “Then the desperation and determination will come. If you understand the importance, it’s hard not to have that desperation. So it’s a big one, we’ll try to tie it up here.”