Epic Rangers Third Period Collapse Sends This 3-2 Series Back To Carolina

Bruce Bennett. Getty Images.

Welp.

We got ourselves a series after all.

It isn't exactly a total surprise. Most predicted this series would go deep & each game has been close. So here we are. Up 3-2 is still up 3-2 with a Game 7 for all the marbles at home if needed - but it's certainly got a different feel when the matchup started 3-0. Not to mention carrying a lead into the final 20 to send your squad to the Conference Final before absolutely puking all over yourselves when the pressure ratchets up.

The first two periods were pretty even. Both teams were going hard but staying calculated. The Rangers were defending great and frustrating the desperate Canes into fits of over-passing and broken plays. When Game 4 punching bag Jacob Trouba finally broke through with another Blueshirts shorthanded tally it felt like Carolina's spirit might be broken. The game certainly wasn't over but if the home squad stayed on their toes & played smart the rest of the way they'd be in good shape. But the last minute of the second period was a sign of things to come.

I'm not picking on Will Cuylle or saying this is all his fault. Far from it. Still, with under a minute left in the second period there was a play along the high wall in the o-zone where the rookie lazily reached for the puck with a one-handed backhand instead of being strong on it and battling to get it deep. Carolina came down the other way, the Rangers scrambled to defend and Cuylle ended up taking a penalty on Aho just before intermission. The Blueshirts were able to kill it off to start the third but they came out looking like a different team. Uninterested in battling or puck pursuit. Comfortable sitting on their heels and just flipping the puck out over and over. Against an opponent as desperate as the Canes were, that's simply not gonna work.

Boom. Jordan Staal cuts across the crease with minimal resistance to tie the game 3:33 into the third.

Boom. Kuznetsov shakes off a defending Panarin with ease to hammer home a rebound three minutes later.

Boom. Martinook bangs one home halfway through the period untouched in the slot while three Rangers are tied up behind the net.

Game over.

It wasn't Aho. It wasn't Guentzel. Not Necas, Jarvis or Svechnikov. It was the Canes bottom six who downright bullied the lifeless Rangers into submission. And quite frankly it wasn't all bullying. Like I said before, it simply looked like the Blueshirts were uninterested in the fight. Resigned to a big fat L and forking over all the momentum in the world to a resilient, relentless opponent who now firmly believes this series will be theirs. Resigned to the now impossible-to-ignore memories of recent collapses. A Blueshirts roster loaded with star power yet again having to answer the question of why they seemingly disappear under the brightest lights.

Series ain't over. There's still two more cracks for these Rangers to change the narrative and quiet the doubt. All playoff runs have adversity and they're up against it yet again. All that means is they have an opportunity to prove this team is different.

They have to.

They will.

VIVA LA BLUESHIRTS!!!!