Home ice was supposed to be the elixir for the Rangers.
It was supposed to be the difference.
The Rangers entered Thursday night’s Game 5 at the Garden having won their previous eight home playoff games, dating back to their triple-overtime loss to the Penguins in their first postseason game.
The atmosphere was there for them Thursday night. It was everything they needed, coming back to their home building after two losses in Tampa that had knotted the series at 2-2.
The home crowd, at full-throttle, full-throat from pregame warm-ups on, held nothing back as it tried to will the Rangers to a 3-2 series lead heading back to Tampa for a Saturday night Game 6 at Amalie Arena.
The Rangers, who left the Garden six nights before with 2-0 series lead, came out of the locker room with energy. Their forechecking, something that had been lacking in Tampa, looked more committed, their hits looked like they had more weight and want-to than they did in Tampa.
Artemi Panarin’s shot is stopped by Andrei Vasilevskiy during the Rangers’ 3-1 Game 5 loss to the Lightning.N.Y. Post: Charles WenzelbergIn the end, though, the Rangers simply couldn’t finish in the offensive zone and, as a result their season is one road loss away from being finished after a devastating 3-1 loss on an Ondrej Palat goal with 1:50 remaining.
The difference on this night was the Rangers’ inability to finish their chances.
Their first good scoring chance came halfway through the first period when Filip Chytil missed the net from right in front of Tampa goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy on a nifty Kaapo Kakko pass.
About two minutes later, Tampa’s Nicholas Paul beat Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin to his left side but the puck flushed the left post.
With about five minutes remaining in the first period, Rangers winger Artemi Panarin, who’s been starved for a goal, had a great look to Vasilevskiy’s right side and hit him in the shoulder with a wrist shot. Chytil had a chance from close in with a rebound that was saved by the Tampa Bay goalie.
After play was stopped, Panarin had an exasperated look on his face, as if to say, “When is something going to go in for us?’’
The Rangers finished the first period with just eight shots, but they had a few quality scoring chances. The Lightning had only three shots on net, but they hit the post twice.
The Rangers missed some chances in the second period, too, with Mika Zibanejad taking a pass from Chris Kreider and missing an open net.
The Rangers finally broke through with a Ryan Lindgren goal — a wrister that whistled past Vasilevskiy high on his right blocker side (his kryptonite in this series). The goal ended a maddening streak of 169 minutes and 8 seconds without an even-strength goal for the Rangers, dating back to Game 2.
“There’s also a sense of comfort for players playing at home,’’ Rangers defenseman Adam Fox said before the game.
The Rangers left their home building Thursday night feeling very uncomfortable about where they stand in this series.
