It wasn’t always this way at the Garden.
Because there was a time not so very long ago that the Rangers thrived on home ice in the playoffs, a time when the Blueshirts won a pair of Game 7s within 16 days in 2012; won an elimination Game 6 in 2013; won another Game 7, another elimination Game 6 and a conference finals clincher Game 6 in 2014; and a pair of elimination games in 2015, the final one the Game 7 overtime affair against the Caps that Derek Stepan ended.
And then this … this six-game postseason losing streak on Broadway that began with Game 2 of the 2015 Tampa Bay conference finals throughout which the Blueshirts have not only been outscored, 21-4, but have been unable to score a five-on-five goal, getting two on the power play, one while shorthanded and one with an extra attacker on the ice.
“It kills this group that we haven’t been able to win here for our fans,” Stepan told The Post before Tuesday’s Game 4 against Montreal in which the Blueshirts seek to square the series at 2-2. “So many of us have been through so many big wins here that we know how special the feeling is when we do win playoff games at the Garden.
“If there’s one message that you could send to our fans for us, it’s that we are just as passionate about winning as they are.”
If that passion appeared to be absent in Sunday’s 3-1 defeat in which Carey Price pitched a shutout for the first 57:54, it might have been a byproduct of the fact that the Rangers rarely had control of the puck entering the Montreal zone, let alone possession below the hash marks. Or perhaps the lack of visible emotion was the cause of the effect.
But whichever came first, the outcome often was the same: After spending too much time to break out, the Blueshirts were reduced to chipping it in from the red line on full changes, allowing the Habs to wheel out of their end unimpeded for up to 90 feet.
“It definitely starts in our zone,” Stepan said. “When we’re able to get out OK, we’re able to establish our speed game and get it going on the rush and the forecheck. When we have trouble getting out and we’re just dumping and changing and then consistently defending, it becomes more and more difficult.
“I’m sure we’ll talk about having at least one man in on the forecheck instead of having a full change if we’re forced to dump it.”
The Canadiens have owned territorial control of the series since midway through the second period of Game 2 in both keeping the Rangers pinned and pumping attempts at Henrik Lundqvist, who had recorded a .941 save percentage through the first three matches.
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Indeed, Montreal’s Max Pacioretty-Phillip Danault-Alexander Radulov unit had recorded the fifth-best line Corsi in the playoffs at 60 percent while the Paul Byron-Tomas Plekanec-Brendan Gallagher trio was 10th-best at 53.85, according to Corsica Hockey. Conversely, the Chris Kreider-Stepan-Mats Zuccarello unit was ranked 27th of the 31 minutes-qualified lines at 43.04 percent; the Michael Grabner-Kevin Hayes-J.T. Miller combo ranked 26th at 43.14.
“Everyone has to focus on his own individual game. That’s how the group improves,” Stepan said. “That’s certainly my focus. I know I haven’t played even close to my best hockey. I think as a whole, our group of forwards believes that we’ve left a lot of plays out there.”
The Rangers and Habs were credited with a combined 98 hits in Game 1 and 129 in Game 2, which lasted 78:34. Game 3 featured 72 hits as recorded by the off-ice officials.
“I said it after Game 2 that the playoffs demand a certain physicality, but you can’t lose your identity in order to be physical and our identity is a speed team,” Stepan said, before referencing coach Alain Vigneault. “What AV says is that we have to put our speed on display.
“There’s been a lot of discussion about which style we need to play, and my message is that isn’t one or the other. But we have to find a balance of the two. I don’t think we have found that balance yet.”
The Rangers are looking for balance just as they are looking for their first postseason win at the Garden since May 16, 2015.
“Nothing is better than winning in this building in the playoffs,” Stepan said. “And no one feels worse about it than us when we don’t.”