Rangers Rout Devils 5-2, Now Hope For From Lightning

The only thing the New York Rangers could control today was their own result against the New Jersey Devils and they did just that in a 5-2 win this afternoon. Now the Rangers playoff fate is in the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning as they need a win in either regulation or OT to put New York in as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Rangers won today with the type of collective effort that was sorely lacking on Thursday against Atlanta.

In a must win game the Rangers fell behind the Devils just 2:03 into the game on a goal from Nick Palmieri when he deflected an Ilya Kovakchuk shot through Henrik Lundqvist.

The nervousness in MSG reached another level, but the Rangers would respond just 1:11 later with a goal from Chris Drury. Drury drive the net hard and converted the rebound on his backhand. The goal was Drury's first of the season on his first shift since February 3.

Kovakchuk capped off his dominant first period with a goal of his own,with 41.8 seconds left in the period. On the play he out muscled Prospal and ripped the shot high on Lundqvist. The goal gave the Devils a 2-1 lead at the end of one and drained a lot of energy out of MSG.

The energy came back quickly when Wojtek Wolski scored off the rush just 1:52 into the second period. The play was a 2-on-1 rush with Stepan down the left side wall. After looking like he would pass Wolski fired and beat Brodeur short side.

With the next goal critical Ryan McDonagh scored at 11:59 to give the Rangers their first lead of the game. The goal came when Vinny Prospal passed from behind the net to McDonagh at the right faceoff dot. The goal was McDonagh's first of his career.

Brandon Prust extended the Rangers lead to 4-2 at 16:06 of the period. Prust converted the rebound from a Dubinsky shot. The goal capped an excellent three goal period that gives the Rangers control over their part if today's action.

The Rangers kept up the pressure and extended to a 5-2 lead at 10:49 of the third on a goal from Vinny Prospal. Artem Anisimov broke down the right side on a 2-on-1 and fed a beauty across to Prospal for the finish.

Michael Sauer and Ryan McDonagh played excellent games and showed why this defense core will be one of the best in the league for years to come.

Brian Boyle set the tone hitting anything that moved and hurling himself in front of shots.

Have to give Drury credit with all the injuries and struggles his goal was crucial goal.

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Rangers Season Comes Down To Game 82 Again, Will It End Differently This Time?

The New York Rangers season is coming down to Game 82 to determine whether the team will make the playoffs or have the season come up just short.  No, that is not a review of what happened last year, but what the situation is for the second straight season as the Rangers take to the ice today against the rival Devils needing a win to have a chance to make the playoffs.  The difference this time is that the Rangers don’t control their own destiny as a win for New York alone is not enough to put them into the postseason.  Along with their own win they need help from the Tampa Bay Lightning, but the Lightning have no real motivation seeing as how they are locked into the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The only way the season will be decided during the afternoon hours is if the Rangers lose in regulation.  A win in for New York would mean that they need Carolina to lose in either regulation or overtime.  A shootout loss for New York would require a Carolina regulation loss for the Rangers season to continue.  

If they truly do remember the heartbreak of last year in Philadelphia, then expect a tremendous effort to ensure they do what they can to avoid it again.  The team might have relinquished the control of the situation overall, but they can still control what they do on the ice tomorrow.  These are the kinds of games where you truly find out about the character of your team as a whole and the individuals wearing their sweaters.  The final score is what ultimately matters, but who will rise to the occasion and who will shrink into the background is just as intriguing a watch as the game goes on.  The Rangers young players have done their part all season long in helping put the team in this position and now, in Game 82, it is time for the veterans to lead the way and force Carolina to have to do something Saturday night.

The time for talk is over and now the Rangers must either answer the call or sit home and watch until they come back in the fall.

Video: Nathan Gerbe Spinning Backhand Goal Sends Sabres To Playoffs

The Buffalo Sabres came into their game against the Philadelphia Flyers needing only one point to secure a playoff birth and midway through the third period they were trailing 3-2.  If the result had held that way they would need to gain that point at Columbus Saturday night and give both Carolina and New York another way into the postseason.

At 10:03 of the third period Nathan Gerbe changed all those calculations with a beautiful spinning backhand shot that beat Sergei Bobrovsky top shelf to tie the game at 3-3 and would end up being the goal that sent the Sabres into the playoffs.  Gerbe's both on the skill of the play and the context for the season is easily one of the best goals of the year in the NHL.

The Idea of Firing Tortorella if Rangers Miss Playoffs

The murmurs among the New York Rangers fans about the job security of coach John Tortorella if the team does indeed fail to make the playoffs for the second straight year.  There is no denying that missing again, especially when it will come down to the final game would be heartbreaking for the fans, the team and the organization.  Making matters worse would be the fact that the Rangers had a seven point lead with just six games to go and that leads to use of the phrase collapse in describing how the team has closed the season.  The idea that Tortorella’s job should be in jeopardy is lunacy for me.

The reality is that the team is 10-4-1 in their 15 games which is hardly a collapse. The reality is that all realistic Rangers fans pegged this team as either battling for the eight spot at the end of the year or missing the playoffs altogether.  This team has massively overachieved even if they had been healthy the entire year based on the talent they run out there each night.  Add to that the number of key injuries they have suffered during the course of the year and the amount of young players that were incorporated into the fold this season and Tortorella should be being praised for even having the Rangers with a shot to get in the playoffs tomorrow.  Talk of firing him after the job he has done this year in changing the culture and growing the youth is ridiculous and you should just stop following this team.  Torts has made his mistakes, as all coaches will, but in the totality of the year he has done a tremendous job and deserves the support of this fan base not an irrational reaction to possibly missing the playoffs.

Zuccarello Recalled from Whale, Who Will Sit?

Based on the AHL transactions page, the stay in Connecticut was a short one for Mats Zuccarello as the New York Rangers have recalled the 23-year-old winger.  In the three games he played since his demotion to the Whale Zuccarello had four assists.  The Rangers are obviously looking for an offensive spark with the loss of Ryan Callahan and being blanked by the Thrashers.  There is no telling currently whether Zuccarello will go back to his recent fourth line role which saw him be ineffective or if the coach will give him a chance to move up in the lineup against the Devils tomorrow.

The speculation now is over who will sit tomorrow and while the early favorite would be Matt Gilroy to ride the pine don’t rule out other options if Tortorella is truly trying to push the offensive envelope.

Rangers Have Lost Control of Own Destiny From Inability To Beat Weaker Competition

The cliché that has surrounded the New York Rangers all season, based on missing the playoffs last year by a single point, has been that every point counts.  Those points in any or all of the first 81 games of the season count as much as those in the finale, but once again it will come down to the final game of the season to decide the Rangers playoff fate.  As the playoffs approach, if you are a team that is battling to get in, the one thing you can take comfort in is having some sense of control of your destiny.  Despite the charge the Carolina Hurricanes have been on, 7-1-1 in their last 9 games, going into last night against the Atlanta Thrashers the Rangers still had that card in their back pocket.  It is gone now.  Instead they must find a way to bounce back against the rival Devils and hope for other teams to aid them in their quest to make the playoffs this season.

If the Rangers fail to make the postseason it will be easy to point to last night’s game as the reason why and it would certainly be part of it, but it goes deeper than that.  Over the past three months the Rangers inability to defeat the teams they are supposed to has cost them an inordinate amount of points.  According to Andrew Gross, since January 20 the Rangers are now 5-7-1 against the non-playoff teams in the Eastern Conference.  That is 15 lost points in 13 games against teams that are not in a position to currently make the postseason.  You have to collect as many points as possible against those teams that are not going to make it and then play respectably against the better teams. 

In contrast, over that same stretch of the season the team is 9-5-1 against teams currently in the Eastern Conference playoffs.  Those numbers show that the Rangers can beat any and all teams they might play in the playoffs, but that their inability to maintain that level against the inferior competition may well cost them that chance. 

Here is a breakdown Buffalo, New York and Carolina over since January 20…

	Overall Record	VS Non-Playoff Teams in East	VS Playoff Teams in East
Buffalo	21-9-5	9-5-2	8-3-1
New York	16-15-2	5-7-1	9-5-1
Carolina	17-12-5	8-4-2	8-6-3

As you can see all three teams have been above .500 against the playoff teams in the Eastern Conference, but the place where the Rangers fall short against the competition is gaining the points they should against those teams that are not going to be playing next week.  When you gain only 42% of the possible points against non-playoff teams in your conference over the course of nearly three months, frankly you do not deserve to be in the playoffs yourself.  You can look at any one game and say that was the game in which the Rangers lost control of their destiny, but the reality is the Rangers lost it over the course of months not any one night because they could not consistently get the points playoff teams do against inferior competition. 

Video: Prust Wins 2010-11 Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award

Rangers Relinquish Control of Own Destiny With Embarassing Effort in 3-0 Loss to Thrashers

The storyline for the Rangers going into tonight’s game against Atlanta was simple.  Find a way to win and get the two critical points to push closer to locking up a playoff spot or lose control of your own fate and have Carolina in control of what happens.  Things are never that easy for the Rangers or their fans as by the time the final buzzer went the Garden was mainly emptied out and the result was a disgraceful 3-0 loss to the Atlanta Thrashers.  Now the Rangers are left to scoreboard watch and hope that in game 82 they have a shot to get back some semblance of control with a win against the Devils.

The night started with tremendous emotion with the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award being awarded to Brandon Prust for his tremendous battle this year.  During the award ceremony Steven McDonald fired up the crowd telling the Thrashers, “We win, you lose.”   Regarding the playoffs McDonald added, “We may be one of the last ones in, but we will not be the first one out.”  Too bad the Rangers did not play that way on the ice tonight.

After a very good first five minutes of the game the Rangers were badly outplayed by an Atlanta team that had absolutely nothing to play for which is absolutely unacceptable consider what was on the line for New York. Both teams had chances in the first but the goaltending stood the tests. 

At 7:42 of the second period Atlanta would get on the board with a goal from Rob Schremp after Henrik Lundqvist made multiple stops during the sequence. Schremp collected the loose puck in the slot and unlike the Rangers he finished his chance.  Just 15 seconds later the Thrashers would twist the knife a little deeper when Andrew Ladd broke down the left side and beat Lundqvist with a backhand shot.

The talk heading into the third was about the comeback against Boston on Monday, but that was more wishful thinking that anything based on this game.  Eric Boulton would finish off the hopes of that miracle comeback 4:19 into the third when he beat Marian Gaborik to the front of the net and tipped the puck up and over Lundqvist to make it 3-0.

The team made that miraculous comeback basically moot by handing over control of their destiny to Carolina who now with two wins and Buffalo with just one point can lock the Rangers out of the playoffs.

The only player that seemed to give a damn tonight was Henrik Lundqvist and for a tea that has prided themselves on effort all season that is embarrassing given the circumstances surrounding this game.

Rangers Prospect Carl Hagelin In Action Tonigh In NCAA Frozen Four

Tonight is a huge game for the New York Rangers in terms of their NHL playoff chances this season, but they will also have a prospect playing a massive game this evening when Carl Hagelin, 2007 6th-round pick, will lead his Michigan Wolverines in the Frozen Four against North Dakota.  The game will be shown on ESPN 2 at 8:30 so be sure to check in on it during breaks and following the Rangers-Thrashers game tonight.

In anticipation of that trip to the Frozen Four DJ Powers at Hockey's Future interviewed Hagelin about his present and the unfinished business from his last appearance along with his future plans for this summer.

Along with that Sean Leahy over at Puck Daddy interviewed Hagelin as well.

Gaborik Must Finish Or The Rangers Are Likely Finished

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

To say that the impact of Marian Gaborik for the New York Rangers during the 2010-11 season has been mixed would be an understatement.  Gaborik has fought through multiple injuries during the course of the year and whether they were the cause or not he has suffered from inconsistency both in impact and pure numbers.  On the year Gaborik has accounted for 22 goals and 25 assists in 60 games, which are respectable totals but not close to what was expected coming off last season.  Gaborik can erase all thoughts of his struggles this season by playing to his status as the offensive superstar of this team for these next two games and helping to will them with his skill into the playoffs.

His game has picked up lately and his threat level is more noticeable, but at the same time he is not paid 7.5 million dollars a season to just be a threat.  He is paid to score goals and while his game has picked up he is not finishing as he has gone seven straight games without a goal to show for his efforts.  That will not cut it in these final two games.  The stakes are too high.  The race is too tight.  The team cannot afford to come up just short two seasons in a row and the onus offensively comes back to the guy who is supposed to be the star.

With Callahan out of the lineup the offensive burden falls even more to the shoulders of Marian Gaborik than it had before.  Gaborik was brought in here to be the primary scoring the Rangers were looking for and hopefully they could surround him with secondary guys to balance the lineup.  What has resulted instead is a lot of secondary scorers are having career years and the primary scorer forgot how to consistently finish and lead his team in the only way he really can.  He is now playing with Dubinsky and Anisimov in Callahan’s spot on what has arguably been the best line for the Rangers this season.  If this team is going to hold off the charging Hurricanes the Rangers will need for Marian Gaborik to be able to shoulder the load of standing tall like superstars are supposed to when the season is on the line.  It might be unfair to put that burden on one player, especially with how the team has had the collective identity all season long, but playoff time is when stars have to step to the forefront and this team will either be lifted by the goal scoring of their best offensive player or they will likely be home watching the other stars play in the extra season.