New York Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi has had a forgettable Stanley Cup Final, and that continued in Game 3.
The Blueshirts blueliner was partially responsible for a seemingly back-breaking goal in the first period Monday night. Girardi went sliding across the slot in order to try and block a shot from Los Angeles Kings forward Jeff Carter. Girardi glided through the slot on his stomach, and Carter’s wrist shot ended up catching a piece of Girardi’s skate blade. That was just enough to change the course of the puck, and the shot beat Henrik Lundqvist with 0.7 seconds to play in the first.
The Rangers never got back into the game.
Girardi’s unfortunate night continued in the third period. That’s when the D-man went crashing into Lundqvist in an attempt to jam the crease and keep the puck out of the net. That ultimately worked, but Girardi fell over the goalie and didn’t really nail the landing.
Girardi, who was the subject of trade rumors leading up to the deadline, instead signed a six-year, $33 million extension to stay with New York. So far, that decision doesn’t look terribly good from the Rangers’ point of view.
While he’s still a valuable player, Girardi hasn’t really played up to expectations. He has just one goal and six assists in 23 postseason games and is a minus-5. His advanced possession stats have been pretty miserable, too. It’s too early to say whether that contract extension will be extremely regrettable, but it hasn’t looked good so far.
Worst of all for Girardi and the Rangers is the fact that they’re now just one loss from losing the Stanley Cup Final to the Kings.
GIF via Deadspin
