{"id":660242,"date":"2026-05-23T10:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T10:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/660242\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T10:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T10:06:16","slug":"tnt-crew-rips-ex-rangers-defenseman-after-costly-gaffe-in-game-1-of-ecf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/660242\/","title":{"rendered":"TNT crew rips ex-Rangers defenseman after costly gaffe in Game 1 of ECF"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York Rangers News<\/a><\/p>\n

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K\u2019Andre Miller\u2019s<\/a> defensive shortcomings were a big reason the New York Rangers were unwilling to make a long-term commitment to him \u2013 and instead traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> last July. That side of his game reared its head again in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final on Thursday, when the Hurricanes lost 6-2<\/a> to the Montreal Canadiens.<\/p>\n

The visitors took control of the game by scoring four times in the first period against the stunned and out of sync Hurricanes. Miller was to blame on the fourth of Montreal\u2019s goals, with a pretty serious gaffe costing his team.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes trailed 3-1 midway through the opening period when Miller skated himself completely out of the play by racing toward the right boards in the neutral zone rather than covering the middle of the ice. That left plenty of space for Montreal rookie Ivan Demidov to take a pass from Alex Newhook, race in alone and beat Frederik Andersen at 11:32, putting the Canadiens up 4-1.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

TNT\u2019s broadcast crew, including former Rangers Ed Olczyk, Wayne Gretzky and Henrik Lundqvist, wasted little time illustrating how Miller took himself out of position, allowing Demidov to score on a breakaway.<\/p>\n

Olczyk, a member of the 1994 Cup-winning Rangers<\/a> and a lead TNT analyst, was all over Miller\u2019s poor decision-making as soon as the goal was scored.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere is K\u2019Andre Miller going on that play in the middle of the ice,\u201d he said while watching the replay of the former Rangers defenseman make the wrong decision. \u201cLook at all the open ice for Demidov.\u201d<\/p>\n

The studio crew, which included Hockey Hall of Famers Gretzky and Lundqvist, also pointed out between periods that Miller should have stayed in the middle of the ice rather than going to the boards to leave Demidov wide open.<\/p>\n

Gretzky noted that Miller might have gone puck-chasing because he was accustomed to having help in the middle, but that with the Hurricanes playing their first game since May 9, they were a bit out of step.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiller is used to the center being there to back (him) up,\u201d The Great One said. \u201cIt didn\u2019t happen. They weren\u2019t backing up each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lundqvist said the Hurricanes needed to avoid having players chasing the puck and taking themselves out of the play as Miller did on Demidov\u2019s goal. Carolina did much the same thing on Montreal\u2019s second goal, a breakaway tally by Philip Danault at 4:04 that was scored with the teams playing 4-on-4.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think they thought Montreal would play this fast,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re facing a team that relies on its speed. They need to simplify.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Rangers defenseman in wrong place, wrong time for Hurricanes in Game 1<\/p>\n

Paul Bissonette, another member of TNT\u2019s studio crew, outlined in greater detail where Miller went wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are K\u2019Andre Miller, there is no need for you to go over to the wall to force things and open up the middle of the ice,\u201d Bissonette said. \u201c[The Canadiens] simply took advantage of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was no secret last summer that the\u00a0Rangers were seeking to trade<\/a>\u00a0the inconsistent Miller, who was an RFA with arbitration rights. The Hurricanes met GM Chris Drury\u2019s<\/a> asking price \u2014 the Rangers received rookie defenseman Scott Morrow,<\/a> a first-round selection (No. 26 overall, originally belonging to the Dallas Stars) and a second-rounder in this year\u2019s NHL Draft. Carolina then signed Miller to an eight-year, $60 million contract<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He played 72 games with the \u2018Canes, finishing with eight goals and 37 points this season. He was plus-7 and averaged a career-high 22:24 TOI.<\/p>\n

\"NHL: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

Miller was on the ice for both of Carolina\u2019s goals Thursday and finished plus-1 in 21:17 of ice time.<\/a> He had one shot on goal, three hits, one blocked shot, a giveaway and a takeaway. Miller\u2019s been very good in the postseason, with six assists and an average of more than 23 minutes TOI in nine games. His plus-10 rating is best on the Hurricanes and tied for third best among all skaters<\/a> in these Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n

His poor decision on Demidov\u2019s goal doesn\u2019t show up in the stats \u2013 but it was a huge blow to the Hurricanes, who lost for the first time after sweeping their first two best-of-7 series against the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers. But Miller\u2019s also a big reason why the Hurricanes sailed through the postseason to this point, and remains an important piece to their puzzle moving forward.<\/p>\n

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\t\tJohn Kreiser covered his first Rangers game (against the California Golden Seals) in November 1975 and is still going … More about John Kreiser<\/a><\/p>\n

Add Forever Blueshirts as a Preferred Source on Google.\"Add<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Rangers News K\u2019Andre Miller\u2019s defensive shortcomings were a big reason the New York Rangers were unwilling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-660242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}