The New York Rangers, the Presidents’ Trophy winners during the regular season, managed for now to stave off elimination in the second round, extending this series with the Washington Capitals to Game 6 at Verizon Center.
And apparently the pressure is now on the Capitals to close out this series, still leading 3-2 after a loss to the Rangers in overtime on Friday. Game 6 between these teams goes Sunday.
Cue all the chatter about whether the Rangers have put doubt into the minds of the Capitals, and about the swing of momentum.
“We are still alive. Going home now, there’s a lot of pressure for them. I know for sure they don’t want to come back here,” said Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, as per Andrew Gross of The Record.
As you would expect, there are differing opinions on the matter.
“I don’t think so. We’re still the underdog in this series. Pressure’s the same no matter what,” said defenseman Karl Alzner, as per Alex Prewitt of the Washington Post.
“We’re OK right now. We knew that we would see their best effort today and we did. And ... I don’t think they’ve seen ours yet,” added head coach Barry Trotz to reporters.