Gerard Galant blames his players

Although the Carolina Hurricanes stuck to their game plan, pilot Gerard Gallant attributed Thursday’s loss to the New York Rangers to his team’s poor performance.

“We weren’t fast enough, we weren’t strong enough,” he told the National Hockey League. [LNH]. We weren’t competitive enough tonight [jeudi]. “

Rangers lost 3-1 at the PNC Arena and are now 3-2 behind in the conference semi-finals.

“We hit them at home time after time and expected them to work hard,” Gallant continued. They played very well and quickly. We weren’t able to.”

tight style

The Stick did everything they could to stifle Thursday’s New York attack, limiting their rivals to 17 small throws. The “Big Apple” team has only taken a few shots once this season.

To do this, Rod Brind’Amour’s squad adopted a tight playstyle in the neutral zone, frequently thwarting the Blueshirts from the zone.

“When their front check was active we were unable to cross the central area,” said striker Chris Kreider. And when you are not able to get out of the hacking and pressure them, it will give them more opportunities to set up their own check. “

Rangers will be on familiar ground on Saturday at Madison Square Garden as they try to extend their season in front of the home crowd. During the first round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, they recovered from a 3-1 delay to their superior rival Penn State.

“You have to be ready for the next match,” Gallant concluded. We’re up against the wall again and we played really well in that kind of situation, so we’ll see where it takes us.