Back-to-the-Wall Rangers Must Rely on Entire Team to Come Back Against Capitals

The major talking point during this second-round series between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers, and understandably so, has been the play of each team's superstar, Alex Ovechkin and Rick Nash, respectively.

Hockey is the consummate team sport until the postseason begins, when suddenly it's all about what this guy did or didn't do in a particular game. Ovechkin is delivering big goals, while Nash is playing well but isn't hitting the scoresheet with enough frequency to keep some happy.

Game 4 of this series should serve as a reminder for the Rangers that it takes more than one player to make a difference.

Andre Burakovsky scored the first two goals of his postseason career, Braden Holtby stopped 28 shots, and the Capitals blocked 25 shots in a 2-1 victory that pushed them to a 3-1 series lead and a win from their first trip to the conference final in the Ovechkin era.

For the fourth straight game, it's easy to make the case that the Rangers were the better team; they had a 66-49 edge in shot attempts and were again the dominant team during the first 20 minutes.

It simply hasn't translated into wins, because the shot attempts haven't translated to offense.

The Rangers have five goals in four games.

"They've done a better job defensively than us," Carl Hagelin said after the game.

"We have to find a way to do a better job in the offensive zone," coach Alain Vigneault said to the media.

This is where Nash inevitably falls under the microscope. He has two assists in four games, so he will receive the brunt of the blame despite having a pretty good series. A $7.8 million cap hit, per Spotrac, demands that Nash be more productive, even if he had a shot that beat Holtby's five-hole Wednesday only to unluckily clip the goaltender's leg and skip wide of the net.

That would've given the Rangers a 2-0 lead and almost surely a victory.

But Nash is not the problem. He has been on the ice for three of the Rangers' five goals in this series and has been instrumental in all three. It's unfair to blame Nash for the Rangers' being on the brink of elimination after winning a Presidents' Trophy when he has been responsible for 60 percent of his team's offense. NHL Network's Mike Kelly pointed out Nash's inability to score:

Where is everyone else?

If you're not Nash or Derick Brassard, who has the only two Rangers goals over the past 164 minutes, you are part of the problem. Chris Kreider has had a nice series, but his turnover along the boards led to Burakovsky's first goal in Game 4.

The movie 127 Hours had a deeper supporting cast than the Rangers in this series.

Remember the 2014 run to the Stanley Cup Final, when Nash was genuinely a problem? The Rangers were getting big goals from the likes of Dominic Moore, Dan Carcillo (seriously), Brian Boyle, Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis, Kevin Klein and Ryan McDonagh. In this series, either those players are no longer here or not delivering.

McDonagh had a ghastly neutral-zone turnover that led to Burakovsky's breakaway winner early in the third period, and St. Louis has looked every bit like a 39-year-old this season. Brassard has been just as effective as he was last year, although a year ago he was part of a dynamic third line with Mats Zuccarello and Benoit Pouliot.

Zuccarello likely won't touch the ice in the series because of a concussion, while Pouliot left via free agency. Losing Zuccarello has forced St. Louis into a top-six role and James Sheppard into the lineup with neither doing much of anything.

If you're looking to point fingers for this current Rangers predicament, point them at injury, free agency and the cruel demon that is time for chopping down this team before you point them at Nash.

Or you can point them at the Capitals, who have done a little more with their chances to score than the Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist has allowed seven goals in four games and trails in this series because Holtby has been better by millimeters.

Hagelin had a chance to tie Game 4 on a third-period penalty shot, but Holtby made an incredible glove save to preserve the lead. When Burakovsky broke free off the right-wing boards, Lundqvist couldn't make the tough save.

And all this occurred with Ovechkin having easily his least impactful game of the series. He had only seven shot attempts and didn't have the wheels to catch Brassard on the backcheck, when Brassard put the Rangers ahead 1-0 in the second period.

That play had all the trappings for critical pieces on Ovechkin's disappearing act in a crucial game and his lack of effort defensively helping to spark a Rangers victory.

Yet those will never be written because of Burakovsky's goals, Holtby's saves and Brooks Orpik and Karl Alzner combining for 11 blocked shots, a few occurring with the Capitals scrambling to preserve their 2-1 lead in the third period.

Has Ovechkin been better than Nash in the series? For sure.

But the Capitals won't be looking to end this series Friday because of that; they are one win away from the conference final because, as a team, they have been just a little bit better than the Rangers.

Go ahead and blame Nash; it's a flashier story, but it's not the one that reflects reality.

All statistics via NHL.com.

Dave Lozo covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @DaveLozo.