2012 Eastern Conference Finals: Rangers Vs. Devils - Another Swing Game

For the third straight series the New York Rangers will walk into a Game 3 tied 1-1 despite winning Game 1. The Rangers got outworked, out-hustled and were pushed around by the New Jersey Devils. They were a team that looked not just tired but exhausted.

Hopefully that changed with the two days off between this afternoon and Game 2.

John Tortorella kept the lines the same during practice on Friday, which makes sense since the Rangers didn't have a problem generating offense because of the line combinations, they had trouble on offense because they couldn't get the puck out of their own zone.

It was something I attributed to pure fatigue, since instead of trying to skate the puck out of the zone the Rangers were simply throwing the puck up the boards and hoping for the best; which almost never happened. The final two Devils' goals came off of situations in which the Rangers couldn't clear the puck. That's something the team wants to change today.

And the Rangers should be able to. They've just had two days off with virtually no distance to travel between games. Thus, there should be no reason they don't come out hungry.

Well, that, and a chance to take a big 2-1 series lead.