from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

To a man, the Rangers understood the Penguins would play with desperation following their Game 1 defeat at the Garden on Thursday.

Who wouldn’t have?

Thus, an intelligent man or woman — or I — would have expected the Blueshirts, whose work ethic and attention to detail were unassailable throughout their Presidents’ Trophy-winning regular season, would have been committed to matching the Penguins’ Hunger Game for Saturday’s encore on Broadway.

Sorry.

Not even close.

“I don’t think we got up to our standard,” Mats Zuccarello said after the Game 2, 4-3 defeat that wasn’t close to that close. “I think everybody has to step it up.”

The Rangers’ execution was wanting, but it was the effort that was most disappointing.

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