Three Takeaways From Rangers Loss

The New York Rangers possibly had its worst showcase of the season Monday night, losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2. The game was filled with dumb penalties, player miscues, and bad discipline. The series is now evened up at 1-1 with the Rangers on their way to Tampa.

The Rangers have split the first two games in eight of their past 12 playoff series, dating back to the first round against the Senators in 2012. They are 6-1 in the previous seven series. These are the biggest takeaways from game two.

Henrik Lundqvist is not to blame

Tyler Johnson scored a shorthanded goal, a power-play goal and an even-strength goal.

Lundqvist, who entered the game with a 1.56 goals against average in the playoffs, allowed six goals on 26 shots, with three coming on Tampa Bay power plays. Lundqvist had previously allowed more than three goals only once during the playoffs.

Lundqvist's man down defense failed him all night, as they let up three of the six goals in the game. The first game was a result of a fumble by Martin St.Louis, who had an awful all around game. Lundqvist talked about the bad turnovers after the game, “You just have to wipe it clean,” Lundqvist said. “ A lot comes down to making good decisions with the puck on the blue lines. You could see when we lost the puck how fast they came back at us and they don’t need much, they have a couple of guys that can definitely find the net.”

St.Louis age is catching his play

Martin St.Louis is an all-time great and there's no questioning that. The 39-year-old came into the playoffs nicked up with injuries, and it looks like they are hampering the wingers play.

In the opening minutes of last nights game he missed a wide open back hand, then fumbled a questionable pass from Dan Boyle which led to the Lightnings opening goal.

He's now scoreless through the first 14 contests of this postseason, was benched for the final 10:00 of regulation in the Capitals series game 7. He was also demoted lines during that series in favor of the rookie Kevin Hayes.

The only plus side for St.Louis is, he had the assist for both of the blues goals.

Mats Zuccarello's creativity is needed

The Rangers are missing a player that is a wild card every time he's on the puck, another wizard that can line up next to Nash and Brassard. I'm not saying he's Ron Francis, but the fact that a player of his magnitude, who had his impact all season is out right now is hurting this team in big ways, and it's resulting in opportunities for other teams.

The team is still saying he is “out indefinitely,” although the prognosis is certainly starting to look up. “He’s just going through the process of getting healthy,” coach Alain Vigneault said before game two. If they can get the 27-year-old Norwegian back, it could spark the team mentally, and also creatively.

With the series tied at 1-1, the series goes down south to Tampa for Games 3 and 4 on Wednesday and Friday.