Written by Justin Tasch at New York Daily Post.com
Thankfully, Rangers fans didn’t throw the white towels they were given onto the ice Thursday night like Flyers faithful chucked wristbands on Monday, though they can’t be blamed for at least contemplating it.
Because the Rangers were on the receiving end of a merciless beatdown on their home ice in a 5-0 Game 4 loss to the Penguins, with Henrik Lundqvist getting yanked by Alain Vigneault 6:04 into the second period after allowing four goals on 18 shots. The Rangers trail the first-round series 3-1 heading into Saturday’s Game 5 in Pittsburgh and have now lost five straight home playoff games.
“I need to be better, simple as that,” said Lundqvist, who was visibly frustrated as he was pulled and glum on the bench for the remainder of the match.
In his 115th career postseason game, Lundqvist was benched for the fifth time. The last time it happened was Game 5 of the 2014 Eastern Conference Final in Montreal when the Rangers were down 4-1 in the second period. He was also benched in Game 6 of the first round in Philadelphia that year, and he got the hook in Games 5 and 6 of the Rangers’ 2009 first-round loss to Washington, when the Rangers blew a 3-1 series lead.
This sit-down came as no surprise.
“If you give up four goals on 18 shots, you have to expect a change might be happening,” Lundqvist said. “Got some time to think about what I was doing wrong. Was there a couple of tough plays? Yes, but I did not play the way I want to play.”
It was bad for Lundqvist from the get-go as he gave up a poor rebound off a 54-foot Ben Lovejoy slapper, allowing Eric Fehr to crash the net and punch in the first goal 1:09 into the game.
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