Jacob Trouba has been one of the best players for the Rangers on this playoff run.
He’s as much a reason the Rangers were playing in Sunday’s conference final Game 3 against Tampa Bay as anyone on the roster.
Trouba’s bone-jarring hits against Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and then against Carolina’s Seth Jarvis changed the complexion of both of those series.
But Trouba wasn’t at his best in Sunday’s 3-2 Rangers loss to the Lightning at Amalie Arena to cut the Rangers’ series lead to 2-1 entering Tuesday’s Game 4.
Trouba, a leader on the team in both hits and blocked shots, was called for three minor penalties in Sunday’s game, the second of which led directly to Tampa Bay’s game-tying goal in the third period.
It was a Trouba holding penalty on Tampa Bay center Anthony Cirelli just 37 seconds into the third period with the Rangers clinging to a 2-1 lead. And before that, in the second period, it was Trouba in the penalty box for two minutes for interference when the Lightning scored their first goal of the game, a power-play blast from the right circle by Nikita Kucherov with 9:10 remaining in the second period.
On the third-period equalizer, Tampa Bay center Steven Stamkos made Trouba and the Rangers pay less than a minute into the man-advantage with a one-timer past Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin to tie the game at 2-2 just 1:22 into the period.
It was a psychological blow to the Rangers, who’d built a 2-0 lead in the first half of the second period.
His third penalty — a trip against Alex Killorn — negated the majority of the remainder of a Rangers’ four-minute power play.
Afterward, no one was blaming Trouba for his penalties.
“Troubs has been a rock for us all year,’’ defenseman Adam Fox said. “It’s not his fault. Some calls happen. Obviously, that one at the start of the third, I don’t know about that one, but Troubs has played a lot of games, he’s a leader for us, he bounces back.
“I don’t think anyone here is blaming Troubs. He still does a lot of good things. He played a really good game, played hard. It happens. He had a few penalties, some bad bounces. I’m sure he’ll be the same guy come next game.’’
Trouba wasn’t made available after the game, but Fox reasoned that the rest of the team sagged a bit after the Lightning scored that equalizer.
“We took advantage of some penalties early and got that lead and took some penalties ourselves and they’re a skilled team, they’re going to capitalize,’’ Fox said. “The third period for us just wasn’t good enough. We were on our heels the whole time. Eventually, they were going to get [a goal] and they did.
“They played well and they deserved to win. I don’t necessarily know if we got what we deserved. But we played on our heels too much in the third period and latter half of second when they tied it.’’
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