It might be a uniquely American phrase, but Alain Vigneault is nonetheless abiding the dogma of “dance with the one who brought you.” And that dogma could result in his team’s season ending a little earlier than it would have liked.
In this case for the Rangers coach, that means he is again leaning heavily on his veterans, the core group of players who are slowing as they age but have been through the battles before and have so often come out on top. Despite an influx of youth this season, it was still the same names out there in the most crucial moments as the Rangers blew another late-game lead and lost to the Senators in Game 5 of their second-round series, 5-4 in overtime on Saturday afternoon in Ottawa.
The loss put them down 3-2 in this best-of-seven, meaning they’re on the brink of elimination heading into Tuesday night’s Game 6 at the Garden — a situation that history might say isn’t exactly cause for panic. But with some recent lackluster play from key pieces, the Blueshirts are standing on unstable ground.
“There’s no doubt in my mind [in Game 5] that our players came with the best intentions, but we had too many guys that just brought an average game,” Vigneault said on a conference call Sunday, with his team set to practice Monday. “At this time of year against such a good opponent — and all opponents that are in the playoffs right now are good teams — you can’t bring an average game to the table.”
Vigneault said that without indicting any individual players, but center Derek Stepan likely could have made a play to intercept an all-world, cross-ice pass from Erik Karlsson in the waning minutes of regulation that led to Derick Brassard’s game-tying goal. It also happened that Stepan had continued his underachieving playoffs with an uncharacteristically sloppy performance well before that play even happened.
Veteran defenseman Marc Staal had shown some spurts earlier this postseason of the angry game that defined his prime, but he was once again on for a late-game goal as he was sprawled across the crease as the puck bounced around and eventually in off Brassard. Fellow blue-blood blueliner Dan Girardi was then on for the overtime winner, having blocked a shot from Kyle Turris that then came right back onto the stick of the Ottawa center as he walked in beat Henrik Lundqvist with a half-shank shot under his glove.
Surely there is some bad luck involved in those plays, but those four players are on top of the Rangers’ all-time list of playoff games played, combining for 446 career postseason contests. Above all else, that is why Vigneault is sending them out there in the most crucial situations.
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“These guys have seen it before, and in the past, a lot of times they have responded real well,” Vigneault said when asked specifically about Girardi and Staal. “I put a lot of faith and trust in how they’re going to play in those pressure situations. That’s it. Got a lot of faith in these guys’ abilities to get it done.”
It’s clear that Vigneault is at least hesitant — if not downright averse — to giving crucial time to rookie defenseman Brady Skjei while protecting a lead. Skjei didn’t play for the final 5:04 of regulation in Game 5, that after he logged the second-most minutes of any defensemen behind only captain Ryan McDonagh in a huge 4-1 win in Game 3 that turned the tide of this series back in favor of the Blueshirts.
But it was the same faces out there late in Game 5, and it was a dispiriting result. If the Rangers want to force Game 7 on Thursday night back in Ottawa, Vigneault has made it pretty clear that it’s going to be those familiar players picking up their collective game to get them there.
“Experience is good, but it’s only good if you’re playing well,” Vigneault said. “For whatever reason, we had quite a few that had an average [Game 5]. It was not an appropriate time. There’s nothing we can do about it. What we can do is get ready for Tuesday’s game and make sure we have a real strong game.”