No Point to Ranger Power Play

The Rangers did almost everything right last night in Atlanta. They withstood the home team's first period onslaught and even came away with a lead at the first intermission. They withstood four early Atlanta power plays, including a two-man advantage, and then came out forechecking, pressuring, and firing a barrage of shots once they were able to get regular shifts for someone other than their penalty killers (32-12 in shots on goal over the last three minutes of the first period and the rest of the game). Other than the one mistake that led to Atlanta's lone regulation goal, they played sound defensively and got the requisite goaltending from Henrik Lundqvist (with a beautiful save thrown in here and there, especially early on), shutting down the Thrashers' big guns.

Still they lost the game. They lost it for one reason, and one reason alone -- they could not win the game on the power play. And that's exactly what the Thrashers did, cashing in on their overtime power play.