Gone, but not Forgotten

What a difference a week makes! Two Sunday’s ago I was at a raucous Madison Square Garden, watching the most exciting, thrilling hockey game in my life whilst cheering on the Rangers to a double-overtime win in Game 3 against the Sabres (courtesy of Michael Rozsival‚s blast from the point). Yet, this past Sunday I watched as my beloved Blueshirts were eliminated from the playoffs in another thrilling game against mighty Buffalo. The season came to an end; the dreams of the Holy Grail (a.k.a Stanley Cup) returning to New York were squashed at least for another year. It was a tough ending to what was a remarkable season; an ending not fitting for a determined, gritty Ranger team, who in the end just did not have enough of what it takes to win a Stanley Cup: luck. And unfortunately for the Rangers, Buffalo had plenty of it. That aside, it was another great season for the Rangers, as evidenced by the deafening “Let’s Go Rangers!” chants echoing throughout Madison Square Garden, even after the game and Rangers season were over. I would like to thank the entire New York Rangers team for providing us fans with yet another remarkable season and showing the NHL that the Broadway Blueshirts are a forced to be reckoned with.

While the Rangers season is over, and the players packed up their equipment for the final time yesterday, this team will certainly not be forgotten. With the core of the 2005-2006 team returning, and some key additions such as Brendan Shanahan and Matt Cullen, the Rangers 2006-2007 season was supposed to be a great success. Unfortunately, the Rangers played most of the season out of the playoff picture and the playoffs were a distant thought at some points during the season. Yet, spurred by the addition of in-your-face forward Sean Avery and with the emergence of young stars such as Ryan Callahan , the Rangers surged after the trade deadline. The Blueshirts went 13-3-4 and were one of only four teams that amassed 30 points after the league stopped swapping players on Feb. 27. Their success can be attributed to a number of factors, mainly the absolutely remarkable play of Swedish’s star Henrik Lundqvist. King Henrik played 1,964 minutes after the All-Star break (the most out of any goalie the league) and posted a 1.80 GAA and and .934 save %, complemented by 4 shutouts. He led in almost every statistical category for goalies after the break. To say he was a staple in the Rangers late season surge would be a vast understatement. Henrik was the reason for the Rangers remarkable play, and if only his first half of the season was as good, he would be spending some quality time this off-season with the Vezina Trophy (best goalie in the league). Besides the awesome play from the Swedish sensation, the Rangers late season success can also be attributed to an awesome power-play (they were 8th in the league) and penalty kill (they ranked 12th in the league). Even when Shanahan got knocked out cold in a collision with the Flyers Mike Knuble and missed a few weeks, the Rangers continued to play aggressive, but smart hockey, and in the end they were rewarded with the sixth playoff spot in the East, a position that seemed far off in the beginning of the season.

There wasn’t much to be said about the Rangers four game sweep of the Thrashers in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. The Rangers absolutely dominated the play and shut down Atlanta’s top stars. Sean Avery was his regular self, getting under the skin of the sensational Ilya Kovalchuk, who even dropped the gloves against Avery, a thing not normally done by a team’s star player. The Rangers shut down both Marian Hossa and Vyacyheslav Kozlov, two of Atlanta’s top players, while Jagr, Nylander, Straka, and Shanahan were all their usual selves, with Nylander and Jagr combining for 15 points against the Thrashers and looking like hockey’s version of the Harlem Globetrotters out on the ice. The 7-0 win in Game 3 embodied what the series was all about: the Rangers completely outplaying the Thrashers and giving them a taste of what their playoff experience was like just a year prior (remember the 4-0 sweep at the hands of the Devils?). It was only fitting that the Rangers completed the sweep in Game 4, in the confines of MSG, and that Jagr sealed the series with an empty netter. At that point hopes were high. The Rangers hadn’t swept a team out of the playoffs since the Cup year in ’94 and they had clearly had taken their game to another level, took out the whooping stick, and sent the Thrashers back to Hot-lanta.

While the thought of playing the Buffalo Sabres in the second round, the best statistical team in the NHL, a team that had more points, wins, and goals, was scary, the Rangers were very positive going into the series. Even coach Tom Renney lit a fire under his boys by saying Buffalo was not the “cream of the crop” in the NHL. But after 5-2 drubbing in Game 1, Buffalo certainly looked like the cream of the crop. While the Rangers played a solid game, it was a flurry of Buffalo goals in the second period (3 goals in 4 minutes and 5 seconds) that allowed Buffalo to emerge victorious in Game 1. But, even after the Rangers found themselves down 4-1 with 2 minutes to play in that game, they did not give up, netting a power play goal by Shanahan and skating off the ice with their heads held high. It was clear though that the Rangers needed to adapt to the Sabres depth and speed in order to make this series remotely close. And whatever system Tom Renney implemented after Game 1 sure as hell worked. The Rangers contained the Sabres speed and limited the number of odd man rushes that the Sabres feed on. They were much more aggressive on the forecheck and played a more physical brand of hockey in Game 2 and probably should have walked out of HSBC Arena with the series tied. I mean, the Sabres high-octane offense was nowhere to be found in the first two periods, and only a power play goal by Brian Campbell, which was a result of poor communication by the Rangers penalty killers, saved the Sabres from entering the final period down 2-0. But, somehow (this is where a thing called luck comes into play), the Sabres were able to feast of Ranger mistakes and goals by Chris Drury and Tomas Vanek were the difference in what should have been a Ranger win. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. The most amazing thing about Game 2 was the way the Rangers were able to rebound afterwards. It was a deflating loss nonetheless, and the Rangers could have rolled over and died right their, right then, even before the series returned to the Garden. But, the mood in the locker room following the Game 2 loss was positive to an extent that it seemed as the Rangers had won. And when the Rangers skated on to the ice in Game 3, they were spurred on by not only the deafening cheers of the Garden Faithful, but also the positive attitude they were able to keep, even after two tough losses. The Rangers executed their game plan to perfection, out-shooting the Sabres 33-28 in regulation and 13-11 in the two overtime periods. And while the double overtime win was more dramatic, more fun to watch, better for the NHL, the game shouldn’t have gone to overtime. It was pretty obvious that Karl Rachunek did not kick the pick in the net (it touched is skate, but how could you say there was a distinct kicking motion?….that’s what I thought) and the Rangers were on the bad end of an awfully officiated game. I mean, it looked like the officials were called up from a Pee-Wee league and given the chance to ref and NHL playoff game. Whether you are a Buffalo fan, Ranger fan, or a damn Blue Jackets fan, you cannot say that the officiating in Game 3 was anything more than disgraceful. And if you do then you clearly have no idea about the game of hockey and should become a Carolina Hurricanes fan, who know as much about hockey as Bill Simmons knows about non-objective journalism and just go to games so they can tailgate outside the NC State football stadium. Enough blabbering…the Rangers win in Game 3 was a result of the positive attitude they kept, even after finding themselves two games down against the top seed in the playoffs. It was a remarkable win, and I was very glad I could be along for the ride (see “Garden of Dreams” article).

Game 4 followed almost the same storyline as Game 3. A determined Rangers team playing against an unbelievably skilled Buffalo team in front of 18,200 fired-up fans. After 20 minutes of play, no score. But a Buffalo penalty lead to another power play goal by Jagr, who scored 45 seconds into the second period (in Game 3 he scored a PP goal 33 seconds into the game). The Rangers out-shot the Sabres 14-9 in the period and played a stingy defensive game, not allowing the Sabres to use their speed and skill to thwart the Blueshirt’s fabulous defensive effort. When Brendan Shanahan scored the game seemed over. At least to everyone expect the Sabres. The Rangers seemed to give up on the forecheck and the Sabres scored a trademark goal to bring them within one. And with 13 seconds left in the game, Henrik Lundqvist made one of few errors he had in the series. He went to play the puck behind the net instead of letting to his defender take it. Daniel Briere swooped in, took the puck away and seemed to have put the puck in via a wrap around. But a remarkable “save” by Lundqvist and a video review that went the Rangers way sent the series back to Buffalo tied 2-2. It was there that the Rangers playoffs hopes came crashing down. After playing two solid periods of hockey and still finding the score 0-0, Marty Straka somehow found a way to get one past Ryan Miller, sniping a shot off the goal game and giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead with 3 minutes left. But “Hockey God” Chris Drury stunned the Blueshirts by scoring with 7.7 seconds left, that is correct 7.7 seconds left. Scoring with that little time left is like completing a 50 yard Hail Mary pass. It does not happen often (came someone say luck?). Sabres winger Maxim Afinogenov, who had been benched in Game 4, won the game in overtime and followed up with a sick cele by taking a swan dive at center ice. The Rangers came back to the Garden in Game 5 but again an outburst of Sabres goals in the second period (they scored 4) gave the Sabres a series-ending 5-4 win. While the Rangers played hard and determined, it was the little mistakes the Rangers made that Buffalo was able to capitalize on. And of course, a little bit of luck, such as Nigel Dawes deflecting Dmitri Kalinin’s goal into the net, a goal that lead to the Sabres outburst and Johan Hecht’s seeming impossible tip in of Daniel Briere’s lob towards the net. Jaromir Jagr said it best after the tough loss: “They did not win the series. We gave it to them.” But, as the Rangers look to the future, they shouldn’t forget the past. They should not forget what they accomplished throughout the season, turning around a seemingly lost season and moving to within 10 wins of capturing the Cup. It was like they turned Johnny Drama’s career into Vincent Chase’s. The Rangers had an outstanding season, and they should not forget this. Many of the other teams won’t…especially Buffalo.

–Barney