The Rangers went from the power play to temporary blackout.
With the Blueshirts on the man advantage with the game tied at three in the waning moments of regulation in Game 2 against the Hurricanes on Tuesday night at the Garden, ESPN’s broadcast flipped to pregame coverage of the Stars-Avalanche series.
Viewers got a glimpse of Mike Monaco and AJ Mleckzo in Dallas while missing almost 15 seconds of the game at a critical juncture.
Viewers were nonplussed, to say the least.
“Maybe the craziest network f–k up I’ve ever seen,” ex-NHLer and Barstool Sports podcaster Ryan Whitney wrote on X.
“Imagine the control room during this. Just people screaming and crying knowing some rangers fan named Ronny from the Bronx is gonna hunt them all down.”
“Did anyone else’s ESPN feed switch to the next game for a few seconds while the Rangers were tied with under a minute left in the 3rd and on the power play,” Audacy radio host Maggie Gray wrote. “Holy hell that was almost a disaster.”
“OMG, they temporarily Heidi-gamed the Rangers game,” The Post’s Peter Botte wrote, referencing the 1968 AFL game between the Jets and Raiders that infamously cut away to the movie “Heidi” for East Coast viewers, preventing them from seeing an Oakland rally.
The Rangers-Hurricanes feed returned with 32.4 second left in regulation — thankfully a score wasn’t missed for all concerned — and the game headed to overtime.
Things did not improve there, as the live ads on the board temporarily flashed “Hurricanes win!” about halfway through the extra period, despite neither team having scored.
Fortunately for ESPN, they did not miss Vincent Trocheck’s game-winning goal in double overtime of the Rangers’ 4-3 win that gave them a 2-0 series lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Game 3 is Thursday in Raleigh, N.C.