The Rangers have been able to overcome their last two slow starts with strong third-period performances, but it’s an aspect of their game that will need to be cleaned up before the playoffs.
In their past two opening frames against the Hurricanes and Panthers, the Blueshirts have not only been outshot by an egregious 25-6, but also outscored 3-0.
They were limited to just three shots on goal in the first period in Saturday’s 4-3 win over Florida.
Instead of the 1-0 deficit they faced on Thursday in Carolina, the Rangers fell behind 2-0 against the Panthers as they bled turnovers and fell out of sorts in the defensive zone at times.
The fact that they couldn’t generate anything on either of their two power-play opportunities in the opening 20 minutes didn’t help, either.
After goalie Jaroslav Halak made the initial save on a long shot, the Slovakian netminder couldn’t find the puck before Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov did at 9:15 of the first period.
Five and a half minutes later, Ryan Lomberg doubled the home team’s score with a slapper from the left faceoff circle as the Rangers struggled to clear the puck.
“I think it was easy to maybe create an excuse and get off to a sleep start [Saturday] after having a day off, not having a morning skate and coming right to the game after being in Florida on the beach in the sunshine,” Patrick Kane said. “It’s pretty easy to create that excuse, but not something we want to do. Even in Carolina, I think sometimes we tend to sit back and feel out the game a little bit. I think with this team we can take over games and we can be ready right from the hop and play the way we need to.”
Piecing together 60-minute efforts hasn’t always come easily to the Rangers, who have made up for it with some tremendous third-period showings lately.
Each time the Rangers have grabbed the lead in the last two games, they’ve been able to play shutdown hockey and almost cruise to victory.
The Rangers outscored the Hurricanes and Panthers 3-1 in the third period in the past two games.
Their 87 third-period goals this season are also good for eighth in the NHL.
The Rangers may be able to get away with it during the regular season, but it’ll be much more difficult come the postseason when every aspect of the game is heightened.
Saturday night was the Rangers’ second straight comeback victory and their 21st this season.
That is tied with the Bruins for the third most in the NHL.
The Rangers have been perfect on the penalty kill for seven games in a row.
They haven’t allowed a power-play goal in 11 of their last 12 games.
Operating at an 80.9 percentage, the Rangers are currently ranked 12th in the NHL on the PK.