Rangers get wake-up call from Hurricanes as Game 5 brings adversity

The Rangers are not the ones teetering on the precipice of elimination -- those are the Carolina Hurricanes -- but the second-round series between the teams is now fraught with danger for the Blueshirts, who once enjoyed an enormous lead.

The desperate 'Canes have won two straight after they blew open a tight Game 5 with four third-period goals on Monday night at MSG. The 4-1 loss was the first Rangers' dud of these NHL playoffs, but it means that they are getting a real and potentially-lethal test from the Hurricanes.

Eek.

The Blueshirts still lead the series, 3-2, and were one period away from advancing Monday night. But now Carolina has generated momentum and, perhaps, a worrisome (for the Rangers) jolt of self-belief. The 'Canes have new life. The Rangers have new stress.

Now the Rangers have to hope that their resilience, a big theme of their season, comes into play, starting in Game 6 Thursday in Raleigh, N.C.

They cannot play as poorly as they did Monday night. You'd have a hard time convincing someone who only watched Game 5 that the Rangers were ever up, 3-0, in this series.

There's every reason to think they'll respond to this, um, Hurricane warning. As Peter Laviolette and several players said afterward, the Rangers have built up a reservoir of that kind of grit and showcased it all season long.

They could win Game 6 and make this loss just a nifty twist in their redemption arc -- after all, only four teams in NHL history have come back from 3-0 deficits to win a seven-game series.

But something was off in Game 5 for the Rangers. It was clear Laviolette was unhappy and it wasn't only about the 'Canes' third-period deluge.

"We weren't sharp," Laviolette said. "It was more than the third period."

He added: "Just wasn't a reflection of who we were for the majority of the year. Tonight was not it for us."

Is he concerned that such a performance came on home ice in a game where the Rangers had a chance to close out a playoff series?

"Yeah," Laviolette said. "I mean, that's anytime you don't play up to your capabilities. You get concerned about that. Yeah.

"But I also know that this group has had games like that before and they responded and there's accountability that goes with that from them themselves."

At the end of his press conference, Laviolette was asked if there was any encouragement knowing that it wasn't an effort issue, rather an execution issue in the loss. He gave an interesting answer.

"There were a lot of issues tonight," Laviolette said. "We'll go back and look at it and we'll try to correct those issues."

The Rangers say they've always known that beating Carolina was not going to be easy. As Vincent Trocheck pointed out, in a year where the Rangers set all kinds of team records en route to the Presidents' Trophy, the 'Canes finished only three points behind.

The series seemed lopsided because the Rangers won the first three games. But each of those was by just one goal and two of them were in overtime. Now Carolina has two wins, and it's actually scored more goals (16) in the series than the Rangers (15).

It can be difficult to finish off a team.

"The fourth one is always the toughest one to win," said Jacob Trouba, who scored the Rangers' only goal, a second-period shortie that gave them a 1-0 lead. "You've got to match the desperation level to a team with their season on the line.

"We'll learn from this experience and, hopefully, find a better way through Game 6. … We've responded well here to situations with adversity or when we lose a couple games, as a team. The bounce back has always been there.

"That's a confidence that was built throughout the year."

Even though they're still leading the series, the Rangers need to lean on that confidence now. And fix the issues that bugged Laviolette after Game 5.

Or they might find themselves wobbling on the edge of elimination, too.