Devils vs. Rangers: New York in Dire Need of Offense to Help Stellar Lundqvist

Henrik Lundqvist has been the biggest star in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the NY Rangers must start lighting the lamp to take some pressure off of him. He came through in Game 1, making 21 saves to blank the New Jersey Devils, but it isn't practical to rely on Lundqvist to continue such stellar play.

His goals against average is 1.57 in the playoffs; a number so stellar you'd think the Rangers would have swept their way through the first two rounds.

That hasn't been the case because the offense has been almost as weak as he's been strong. 

Through 15 playoff games the team has scored 32 goals; that's just over two goals per game. If your team is scoring that poorly, then stellar goalie play is a necessity.

There are two players on this roster that specifically need to step up. One is Marian Gaborik; he led the team in goals with 41 during the regular season, but he has only four goals in the postseason.

That total is acceptable for a secondary goal-scoring option, but not from the man a team depends on primarily for scoring. He is far off the pace that he set in the regular season.

The other is captain Ryan Callahan. 

Callahan has only three goals in the playoffs after scoring 29 times in the regular season. What is worst of all for Callahan is that in Game 1, he wasn't nearly as aggressive as he needed to be.

He had only one shot on goal, and that just isn't enough.

If the Rangers want to advance, they can't depend solely on defense and Lundqvist standing on his head in net. The captain and their leading scorer need to step up, or they may waste Lundqvist's amazing effort.

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