New York Rangers' Steady Resolve in Elimination Game Shows Series Far from Over

NEW YORK — What’s your breaking point? When do you give up? How many times can Lucy pull the football away as you’re about to kick it before you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and call it a night?

The New York Rangers were given every reason to call it a season Friday night. Braden Holtby has been something out of a futuristic hockey laboratory all series—a genetically enhanced, puck-stopping cyborg, like the goaltending version of Ivan Drago in Rocky IV only without the illegal injections.

Holtby had been impervious to frozen rubber for nearly 59 minutes on Friday, and with the Capitals getting a potentially back-breaking goal from Curtis Glencross midway through the third period, a berth in the conference finals was within reach. 

Then Chris Kreider cut the Russian. Or the Canadian, as it were.

Kreider tied the score at 1-1 with 1:41 remaining on the Rangers’ 35th shot of the night. Then Ryan McDonagh won it midway through overtime to complete the 2-1 comeback victory in Game 5 of this second-round series that was tantalizingly close to ending with the Capitals on top.

Instead, the Capitals will take a second crack at eliminating the Rangers at Verizon Center on Sunday night in D.C.

Frustration could have sabotaged a lot of teams in this situation, and no one would’ve blamed the Rangers. Holtby had a .971 save percentage up until the moment Kreider released his shot, so it’s commendable that the Rangers were even still trying to score at that point.

“It’s one of those things; What are you going to do?” Marc Staal said. “For us, we knew we were forechecking well. We knew we were doing the right things to get our chances. A couple inches off here or there and it’s not going in for us. We didn’t get frustrated. We kept going at them.” 

Frustration can manifest itself in different ways. It’s not as though teams will see Glencross score and say, “Forget it. We’re out of here. Thanks for coming to the rink but there’s no hope for us.” It’s not a matter of quitting when things aren't going well.

It’s a matter of not succumbing to the temptation of shooting the puck from anywhere, no matter how many Capitals are obstructing the view of the net. It’s a matter of not trying to be extra fine when the puck is on your stick and it’s just you and Holtby, a bearded brick wall of calm throughout the postseason.

Kreider embodied confidence on his tying goal. Derek Stepan put the puck on a tee at the top of the left faceoff circle and Kreider ripped it through the legs of defenseman Brooks Orpik and just inside the post. 

Then there was the patience exuded by Stepan on McDonagh’s winner. Stepan was all alone in the left face-off circle, puck on his blade, one-on-one with Holtby. He didn’t panic and hammer into that mass of humanity when two Capitals slid into his shooting lane; he instead left the puck for McDonagh to bang into the net to keep the Rangers alive.

“It’s been that way the past few games,” Kreider said, referring to the Rangers’ stretch of 170 minutes in this series with only two goals, both from Derick Brassard. “You’ve got to put your head down and just work harder. I think we were confident it was going to break eventually.

“It broke pretty late.”

“You’ve got to keep yourself calm and focused,” McDonagh said.

It’s easy for fans to point to the stats, fancy or otherwise, and say the Rangers deserved this or should’ve won that because of their territorial dominance in this series. Shot attempts may reflect which team is carrying the play at five-on-five, but it’s human nature to feel defeated when you aren’t rewarded for doing the right things. 

It can lead to bad decisions—say, for instance, Keith Yandle jumping into a play and leaving Lundqvist alone to defend a two-on-one that leads to a goal—or the questioning of the system or the propensity for trying something new, something other than what’s been working.

That didn’t happen for the Rangers, even as they were 101 seconds from the abyss. 

“I think it’s important not to focus on the outcome, but focus on the process,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “That’s what we did tonight, and that’s what we’re going to need to do Sunday.”

It’s easy to stick with a plan when the plan bears fruit. It finally happened in Game 5, and now the Rangers have every reason to believe it can happen again in Game 6.

All statistics via NHL.com.

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