Coach Gallant throws players under the bus after Rangers’ Game 5 loss

The Carolina Hurricanes controlled the play in Game 5 of the second-round series against the New York Rangers on Thursday. Heck, they even scored on the power-play after a two-month drought on the man advantage.

And head coach Gerard Gallant blames his Rangers. The Hurricanes beat the Rangers 3-1 on Thursday night to take a 3-2 lead in the series as the Tampa Bay Lightning awaits to see who they will face in the Eastern conference finals.

“We weren’t quick enough, we weren’t strong enough,” Gallant said after the game. “We can make excuses about them clogging up the neutral zone and all that, but we just didn’t play our game. We weren’t competitive enough tonight.”

Gallant said he thought the Rangers’ looked “tired, but won’t allow his players to use this as an excuse.

“I thought tonight in this series they took advantage of a team that wasn’t ready to compete as hard as we should have. It’s not that the guys didn’t want to compete, it’s we looked tired for whatever reason.”

You better believe Gallant will make sure the Rangers are ready for Game 6 Saturday at the Madison Square Garden.
What might help the Blue Shirts is that the Canes are 0-5 away from PNC Arena so far despite tying for the NHL lead in regular-season road wins.

The Rangers need to stay alive in this series and push an ultimes Game 7 - and get back on Gallant’s good side too..