Houston We Have A Problem

Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. During the first two rounds of these Stanley Cup playoffs all we heard from the Rangers is they couldn't get their speed game going because of the physical style of play of the Penguins and the Capitals. That, they said, was the reason for their lack of goal scoring. Just wait until we get to play our game and the goals will come, you'll see.

The Tampa Bay Lightning were supposed to be the perfect tonic for what ailed the Blueshirts; a team that, like them, had a good transition game and the ability to create scoring opportunities off the rush. Now we would finally see some goal scoring.

Well three games into this conference final round, the goals have come alright. Unfortunately for the Rangers, most of those goals have come off of Lightning sticks. In just the last two games, the Bolts have lit up Henrik Lundqvist to the tune of 12 goals against. To put it in perspective, that's only one less goal than he had allowed over the previous eight games combined. Do the math. 13 goals in eight games for a 1.63 goals against average vs. 12 goals in two games for a goals against average of 6.00. You don't have to be a mathematician to see where this is going.

Yes, the Rangers have found their speed game; yes, this series is a helluva lot more exciting than either of the last two. Hell, they're even scoring on the power play - four goals in the last two games. But the problem for the Rangers is they find themselves going skate to skate with a team that is putting on a clinic. The Rangers maybe going at warp six, but the Lightning are traveling at warp nine. They have been considerably quicker and far more opportunistic with their scoring chances than the Rangers. Their best forwards have run circles around the Rangers best forwards.

Adding insult to injury, the Rangers have been sloppy and undisciplined in this series. They have taken bad penalties and have had major defensive lapses in their own end. The team that was built around defense first has forgotten how to defend. And their world-class goaltender has been anything but that over the last two games. His whiff on the overtime goal by Nikita Kucherov in game three was as bad as anything I've seen from him since his rookie year in the league. If his play doesn't dramatically improve by game four, this series is going to end very quickly and another year will go by without a Cup.

It's time to admit the obvious. The Rangers, despite all the hoopla about their "speed game," really aren't all that explosive a team. Yes, they were tied for third in the NHL in scoring, but a lot of those goals came early in the year. Throughout a good chunk of their run to the Presidents' Trophy, they won the bulk of their games by scores of 3-2, 2-1 and 1-0. They might not like low-scoring games, but they typically win them. And if the Rangers have any hope of winning this series and extending their postseason, they had better give up this suicide mission they're on and return to their roots.

If they don't, the Lightning will run over them like a freight train.