Rangers look for some puck luck in must-win Game 4

NEW YORK -- Each player who spoke in the New York Rangers dressing room after Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday was asked about the Los Angeles Kings' first goal, the one that came off Jeff Carter's stick with 0.8 seconds remaining before the first intermission.

Each answer was different.

Marc Staal described it as "obviously one that hurts." Henrik Lundqvist referred to it as a "tough play." Rick Nash called it "a huge momentum swing for them."

But Dan Girardi described the goal that went in off his skate as one that defines "exactly how the series is going for us right now, a couple bad bounces."

"At some point it's going to go our way," he added.

Girardi is talking about luck, puck luck to be exact. The Rangers feel they haven't had any of it in the series, and that their lack of it was never more evident than on Carter's goal, which turned out to be the winner in the Kings' 3-0 victory in Game 3 at Madison Square Garden.

"In a game like this, every little play matters, and it feels like they had the luck so far in these three games," Lundqvist said.

Nash, though, said Carter's goal can't be used as an excuse for why the Rangers lost Game 3. All it did was put them down 1-0 with approximately 40 minutes to play.

"There were still two periods left, so we can't make that our excuse," Nash said.

Nash similarly isn't looking at puck luck, or lack thereof, as an excuse for why the Rangers are down 3-0 in the best-of-7 series.

"I think you have to work for your break," Nash said. "We've got to work for our luck. Tonight, we made mistakes and it ended up in the back of our net."

Time is obviously running out for the Rangers to try to change their fortunes. Game 4 is set for Wednesday at the Garden (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS).

"It's not about playing great; it's not about having great looks. It's about finding ways to win, and they've been able to do that," Lundqvist said. "So you have to leave everything out there now in the next game and try to earn some good bounces out there because so far they've had most of them."

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