Ranger Lothbrok

So, here's a good way of putting it. All of the casual Rangers fans emerge this time of year. One of them is a friend of mine. She texted me and said, "why does it seem like Carolina has twice as many guys on the ice as we do? They get every single loose puck." No kidding. Casual fan eye test says it all. Outworked and outhustled start to finish.

There's a realistic possibility we become the 5th team in history to lose 4 straight. Flatly outplayed at home with a chance to close it out.

I can't with this officiating. I don't have the strength. You shouldn't have to beat two teams every time you play a game.

I mean, lucky they're not behind. Not a good period at all. But that's been the case most of this series in the first period and at least this time we're not down 1-2 goals.

Well, last game we felt lucky to get out of the first period only down by a goal. This is what it looks like when the bounces don't go your way in the same scenario. Just gotta dig deep. We were slow to start last game too but picked it up in the second.

Laf had a reputation as being a gamer when it mattered. That's what made his skillset so attractive going into the draft. He could dazzle with fancy plays, or crash the net for dirty goals, or lay hits on an aggressive forecheck, etc. He just needed to be put in a position to succeed. Bedard was great but didn't quite reach expectations. I doubt Celebrini cracks 50 points in his rookie season. Talented players can only go so far on talent alone without help. Playing with Panarin and Trocheck has unlocked his confidence and has given him the time and space to operate. He's not even the biggest threat on that line and that's saying something. I had a feeling after his regular season finish that we'd be talking about him in the playoffs. He's a fierce competitor and elevates his game when it matters most. He's future captain material. This is also why I still won't give up on Kakko. Big forwards take longer to develop generally. I've seen way too many 1,000+ point careers really take off at 26-27 years old to write him off. Kreider reinvented himself when he hit his 30s. The talent is there, he just needs the confidence, and having another skill player like Chytil will go a long way with that.

I'M HERE FOR THE FUCKING SHORESY GIF!!! Bread!! That's another game winner!

Much better period. If we had buried some of those chances it could've been 3-1 or 4-1 good guys right now. Deflections are basically the entirety of the Carolina offense right now. Nothing else is getting past Igor.

Gonna need to do way better than that. Just not good.

Just awful. Flatly outplayed.

Chytil playing?

Part of me wants to LOL since Andersen hasn't been the problem at all. But the other part of me just got scary Akira Schmid "Rangers face world-beater backups" vibes.

Agreed. Guentzel has been as advertised for the Canes, if not surpassing expectations, and drew the biggest headlines. But somewhere over the last 2-3 games of the regular season, that Kreider-Zibanejad-Roslovic line started to gel and carried the momentum forward into the postseason. I won't pretend he's an ideal 1RW, but for what he cost us, he's been a key add. We haven't had someone zooming around the ice like that since Michael Grabner, and he's playing with a bit of swagger and confidence. Not sure how Drury saw what he saw on him, but the guy is approaching Vatrano-level sneaky deadline add status.

Well, they haven't really had to chase yet this postseason. Let's see what they do with it. The riding leads for 5 games straight isn't going to cut it tonight.

Someone tell me we have a shot of winning tonight. We win a game, I get my hopes up, I'm in a good mood for exactly 24 hours, and then by the next game day the well-earned eternal pessimism sets in. Yet again, the Athletic's model is predicting a Carolina win. Yet again, we are underdogs according to the odds. Even after Game 1, everyone at the Athletic said "yeah we expected this, doesn't change anything. Canes in 6 or 7."