Rangers power play falters again in Game 3 loss

NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers said all the right things prior to Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round series against the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
They were fully aware their power play failed to score on seven chances through the first two games of the series in Montreal. They knew it needed to make an impact on home ice if they were going to be saluting their fans at the end of the game.

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But not only did the Rangers go 0-for-3 with the man-advantage, they failed to generate many quality chances and gave up two power-play goals in a 3-1 loss.
New York trails the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 is at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports, MSG).
"We're definitely fighting it a little bit, to say the least," Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. "If it's not going well, we really need to simplify here, make one or two passes and look to get it to the net. We are maybe looking to extend our plays a little bit too much and it's costing us scoring opportunities."
Rangers forward Rick Nash came close to breaking through in the first period when his chance right in front of Canadiens goalie Carey Price trickled wide. But there was little generated after that and the Rangers finished 0-for-3 on the power play.
They are 0-for-10 in the series with 11 shots on goal with the man advantage.
"I think first of all, you've got to make the passes," Nash said. "There's too many passes in guys' skates. The execution wasn't there. We need to get a shot through. I think everything starts off a shot."
Defenseman Brady Skjei had the lone goal for the Rangers in Game 3, which came with 2:56 remaining. Skjei, who finished tied for fourth on the Rangers with 34 assists during the regular season, realizes he and his teammates need to do a better job of generating chances with the man-advantage moving forward.

"Special teams is huge for sure in the playoffs," Skjei said. "They cashed in on theirs, and we didn't. We didn't capitalize. We've got to watch some video, learn from it and just execute better. I think that's the No. 1 thing."
At even strength, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault mixed and matched his lines over the course of the game with hopes of finding a combination that could generate offense. Although he was pleased with the contributions made by the line of Oscar Lindberg, Tanner Glass and Jesper Fast, Vigneault is expecting more from his skilled players in Game 4.
Rangers forwards Jimmy Vesey, Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, J.T. Miller, Mika Zibanejad and Nash combined for six shots on goal.
"At this time right now, our best line is our fourth line," Vigneault said. "Our top players need to find their game, and they obviously don't have it right now.
"We're not making any plays. You've got to make plays."