NHL Playoff Predictions 2012: Inconsistent Play Will Cost NYR Eastern Finals

It's been a recurring theme in the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs for the New York Rangers. The Eastern Conference's top seed has been unable to establish any sort of positive momentum in the playoffs, winning consecutive games only once to this point.

The team has gotten away with that inconsistency so far, gutting out seven-game series victories over the Ottawa Senators and Washington Capitals. But against their arch-rivals from New Jersey, this Jekyll and Hyde act is going to cost the Rangers dearly in what is now essentially a best-of-three game series with the Devils.

It was definitely Mr. Hyde on the ice for New York Monday night, as the Rangers followed up a 3-0 whitewash of the Devils on Saturday by looking sloppy and out of sync throughout their 4-1 Game 4 defeat.

It may not have helped that Rangers coach John Tortorella seemed to spend more of Sunday complaining about the Devils to ESPN New York and the one game suspension levied against Rangers defenseman Brandon Prust after a Game 3 hit than he did preparing his team for the next contest.

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"I look at Zubrus' elbow to Stralman, I look at Parise launching himself into Del Zotto," Tortorella said. "Maybe if our players stay down on the ice, we'll get something."

Tortorella said his players are instructed not to embellish and hinted that he doesn't feel the same about the Devils.

"We tell our players 'Don't stay down on the ice, get up.' I hope ... I'll leave it at that," he said.

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Tortorella's griping certainly didn't seem to have any positive effects on his team. The Rangers appeared out of sorts for most of  Monday's game, turning the puck over again and again, which as Sports Illustrated reports, was one the bigger causes of the Rangers' lopsided loss according to their surprisingly subdued coach after the game.

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"We have to hold on to some pucks," the reasonably calm Tortorella said. "We had opportunities. We had the yips with it. We just gave it back to them, and they just progressed with their forecheck and momentum comes their way."

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Totorella's comments are telling, because that's exactly what the New Jersey Devils do. They just keep coming, playing their game, game after game, season after season. There may well be no more consistent team in the NHL than New Jersey, and you're not going to take four games out of seven from them if you play like gangbusters one night and Girl Scouts the next.

The New York Rangers have a talented roster, and one of the game's top netminders in Henrik Lundqvist. That may have been enough to compensate for their lack of consistency to this point in the playoffs.

However,  that's not going to cut it now, and as much as the powers that be in the NHL might like to see a New York-Los Angeles (yes, I know Phoenix isn't dead yet, but next of kin has been notified) Stanley Cup Final, it's not going to happen if the Rangers don't get it together in a hurry.