Let me preface this piece by saying that in 2010, the Philadelphia Flyers were able to come back against the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Semifinals from three games down, win the next 4 games, and then ride that momentum all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. In short, coming back from a three-game deficit is doable. Just not in this series.

After losing Tuesday night, the New York Rangers are now three down against those same Bruins. But there will be no repeat of 2010. The Rangers have too many factors working against them right now, and in order to win they need to change not only the way they are playing now, but how they have played all year.

Starting with the obvious, the factor working against the sixth-seeded Rangers is that they are facing the fourth-seeded Bruins; meaning that the Bruins have home advantage for this series.

Home ice means that the players get to sleep in their own beds that night, do not have to travel for the game, have the support of their fans behind them and cheering for them, are able to take part in their pre-game rituals, and so on.

The Blueshirts may win Game 4 at home, but with the Bruins going back to the TD Garden in Bston for Games 5 and 7, it is clear that the B’s have the odds in their favor for the rest of this series. During the last six playoff years, teams with home ice advantage have won the series 62% of the time, 66-for-107, and so far in the playoffs this year, home teams have won 68 percent of the time.

Combine this with the fact that the Bruins beat the Rangers on their home ice at MSG Tuesday night, and it is clear the Rangers are in trouble. Not only are the series odds stacked against them, but if they cannot win the games that they are supposed to win, what evidence is there that they can win not one, but two games in Boston?

When offensive-powerhouse Rick Nash came over from the Columbus Blue Jackets at the start of the season, the one phrase that left every Rangers fan’s mouth was “this season is going to be Nashty!”

Coming off of a strong 2011-2012 season with the Jackets where Nash had 59 points, 30 goals and 29 assists, and coupled with Rangers’ Marian Gaborik’s stellar season of 76 points, 41 goals and 35 assists, and the New York Rangers went into the 2012-2013 looking like a real contender.

Fast forward through a lockout-shortened 2012-2013 season, and Gaborik’s once-solid performance dwindled to average at best, with just 19 points in 35 games at the time of the trade deadline. And so he was traded (ironically) to the Blue Jackets. With the duo seperated, the brunt of the offensive responsbility fell on Nash.

Nash, to his credit, had a good season with 42 points and 21 goals, 10th-best in the NHL. Riding into the playoffs, there was still hope that the season could be “Nashty”.

However, the playoffs have been a different story. Nash has struggled to put the puck in the net, something that the Rangers cannot afford to have happen to their star. He has an embarassing 2.9 scoring percentage on his shots this series, scoring his sole goal of the playoffs in a 5-2 loss against the Bruins in Game 2.

Can the rest of the team fill his void?

While certain players are stepping up these playoffs, like center Derrick Brassard, the truth is that the Rangers are not a very good team offensively even when Nash performs well. The Rangers scored 2.6 goals per game this season, 15th among 30 NHL teams, and that figure has dropped to 2.1 this postseason. This inability to score though is not just limited to regular play, as they have struggled to score during the power play too.

All season the Rangers have struggled on the power play. Despite the 5-on-4 skater advantage, the Blueshirts have only converted 15.7% of the time, putting them at 23rd in the NHL.

These playoffs have actually been worse for them, as they haven't converted any of their 10 opportunities this series and are 2-of-38 overall for a pathetic 5.3 percent conversion rate.

Watching their play Tuesday night, it was clear that the Rangers do not have a solid plan of attack when they are awarded a power play. Rather than utilizing their man advantage, Rangers players seemed to take turns as they each tried to individually take the puck up and score without their teammates' support. Opportunities where it could have been a 3-on-2 or 4-on-3 player advantage for the Rangers were turned into low-percentage 1-on-2 or 1-on-3 player disadvantages.

While power plays are by no means the end-all, be-all for championship teams (The Bruins had the 2011 Stanley Cup run despite their weak power play offense), if a team struggles to do so many other things well then the power play is a nice fall back. For many teams, it can serve as a quick way to get back into a game. For the Rangers though, it just serves as a reminder of their many struggles this postseason.

Perhaps the biggest issue for the Rangers these playoffs has been their overall reliance on goalie Henrik Lundqvist and their seeming inability to help him on defense. Lundqvist has saved a league-leading 318 shots these playoffs and is averaging a fourth-best 93.5 percent save percentage. During the Rangers' first-round win over the Washington Capitals, Lundqvist ended to series and put away the Capitals by having back-to-back shutout games. These numbers are especially impressive considering he was facing MVP candidate and the one-man offensive wrecking crew Alexander Ovechkin.

To put it frankly, this man has been carrying the team on his back.

So then, why is this an issue? He has been playing well, and seems to be the Rangers' only consistent player these playoffs.

The issue is that while Lundqvist has been especially hot these playoffs, he is bound for occasional off games like any other player. On top of all of the aforementioned stats for Lundqvist, he struggled in letting in eight goals in this series' first two games. This goals fall upon Lundqvist, as he is the one guarding the net, but they should also be attributed to poor defense.

The NHL does not hold an official time of possession Stat, but it did appear that by the end of Game 3, the Rangers could not seem to get the puck out their own zone. Not only that, but the Bruins managed to have a couple of breakaways that Lundqvist had to stop on Tuesday night. One can rely on their goalie to be a consistent force in the net, but to ask them to be a monster in the net night in and night out without resting or catching a break is just unrealistic.

As one watches the Rangers and how Lundqvist is expected to be there for every single save on every single play, one cannot help but think that perhaps the Rangers are getting lazy and are falling back on their goalie to save them a bit too much. The Rangers were outshot 34-24 Tuesday night, and allowed five goals in Game 2 despite outshooting Boston 37-32.

If the Rangers treat every night like it needs to be a Lundqvist shutout night, then they are in for an unpleasant reality check, not to mention an unhappy goalie. Lundqvist is a phenomenal player, and his dominant play these playoffs is nothing new. But if the Rangers can’t get the puck out their zone faster and limit the breakaways, then the pressure will continue to build on him with negative results.

Rather than Rangers looking for their anchor in net to bail them out, they may need to start looking to bail him out as much as possible to reduce the volume of shots he faces.

Lastly, a large hurdle the Rangers have to face this series are the Boston Bruins themselves. They are currently playing at an amazing rate. Since their third period comeback in Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the squad has looked like an unstoppable force.

The offense is not having a problem getting the puck into the net, scoring 3.2 goals per game these playoffs while averaging over eight shots more per game than the Rangers.

While the Bruins are actually worse on the power play than the Rangers (14.8 percent conversions this season), it has not made a big difference because they can score at a high rate without it. They have four players with multiple goals this postseason, and David Krejci leads the NHL in postseason points at 16.

All of these players stepping up and playing great offensive-paced hockey has also helped struggling players like Tyler Seguin, who had 16 Goals this season but has yet to find the back of the net in the postseason. Because their scoring is a collective rather than a reliance on one player, the Bruins are able to afford Seguin slumping unlike the Rangers and Nash.

Lastly, while the Rangers have Lundqvist in the net, the Bruins' Tuukka Rask is having a phenomenal postseason of his own. He has made 307 Saves, 2nd best behind Lundqvist, and is letting in just 2.19 goals per game.
The difference between the two goalies is that Rask's squad can actually score. So not only is he having a dominant playoff run, but he does not have the same expectations thrust upon him that Lundqvist has. 

While I will be the first to admit that comebacks happen, it feels as though too many things need to go right in order for the Rangers to win this series. They need to play every game at a level we have yet to see from them this series, while hoping that the Bruins play sloppy hockey for the rest of the series. It's just unrealistic.
The Rangers will have to do a lot of thinking about how to become a contender this offseason, and perhaps the preparation from a non-lockout season will do them well. One thing is clear though, they need to find a way to support their superstar players more, offensively and defensively, before those players find another team that will.

Reach Staff Reporter Mark Albano here or follow him on Twitter.