As the series headed to Pittsburgh for Game 3, the worry for the Rangers centered on how the matchups would shift with Mike Sullivan holding the last change.
The Kid Line, the thinking went, could be exposed if Sullivan chose to throw out his top line against the unproven Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko. On the other hand, getting fewer minutes against Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust could help get Mika Zibanejad’s line going.
Sullivan, it turns out, was thinking above the fray.
The matchup charts through two Pittsburgh victories on home ice — 7-4 in Game 3, 7-2 in Game 4 — look more or less the same as they did in the first two games at the Garden. All that’s changed, really, is that it’s been made clear just how favorable it is for the Penguins to have the two top lines matching up.
By the end of the second period on Monday, Rangers coach Gerard Gallant had gone so far as to switch up his lines, putting Artemi Panarin with Zibanejad and Kreider, with Frank Vatrano dropped to the third line. That reflected the desperation of the moment, in which the Rangers faced a 6-2 deficit, and of a series in which their top three forwards have been completely swallowed up.
Gallant’s only comment on that was indirect.
“It’s not from the inexperienced guys, either,” he said of his team’s issues. “They’re a part of our group but tonight you’re seeing a lot of soft, bad plays by a lot of people. It was a team effort tonight.”
In his first real playoff series since 2017, Zibanejad has one point at even strength without a goal. Kreider, who suffered a puck to the neck on Monday, and Vatrano have both at least gotten on the scoresheet, but their production has been nothing near that of the Crosby line.
“He’s played some real good hockey in the playoffs in my time here, so that bar is really high,” Sullivan told reporters of Crosby, who had a goal and two assists in Monday’s rout. “But he’s playing a complete game, both sides of the puck. He inspires the group.”
This equation is about Crosby as much as anything on the Rangers’ end. But it’s on the Blueshirts to figure out a response nonetheless.
On Monday, the Zibanejad line was on ice for three of Pittsburgh’s even-strength goals. Not only did they fail to score in response, they failed to so much as record a high-danger chance.
With the series shifting back to New York, there is not an obvious matchup answer for Gallant. Would the Rangers coach roll the hard-hitting fourth line out against Crosby and hope for the best? Would he try the Kids? Is there a different configuration from the top six that makes sense together, that would allow Zibanejad to start making a two-way impact?
And with his team’s season hanging in the balance, Gallant has less than 48 hours to figure it out.