After a walk in the park in Game 3 - a 7-0 romp by the Rangers, in which the Atlanta Thrashers didn't look like they'd even shown up - tonight's Game 4 was a nail-biter from start to finish. The Thrashers got their first lead in the series when they scored first, and then took a 2-1 lead in the 2nd period before Shanahan scored a beauty to tie it up before heading to the 3rd.
The bullet shot by Matt Cullen in the 3rd period, which rang off the crossbar, down into the goal, and immediately out again was initially waved off by the on-ice officials. Fortunately these days we've got Instant Replay to make sure the right calls are made, and pretty much every angle showed that the puck landed fully behind the goal line before flying back out of the net. After a long, long review, the referee pointed to centre ice at MSG and the crowd went wild! The Rangers had their first lead of the game, in a 3rd period during which they could eliminate the Thrashers and get only their 3rd playoff 4-game sweep in team history. That's when the tension really started to mount for me, but I have to say the Blueshirts looked quite impressive playing with a 1-goal lead. Unfortunately they couldn't score on their 5-on-3 after that, but when Atlanta pulled their goalie with just under two minutes left, it wasn't long before Jagr scooped up the puck, skated out of the zone, and fired it on a hop into the empty net! That made the final 1:17 a lot easier on my heart!
As Boneman knows, my goal for the Rangers this year, before the season started, was to make the playoffs again and do better than last year. Considering they were swept by the Devils in 2006, and didn't even manage to win a single period, I figured they probably couldn't do much worse, if they made the playoffs! Upsetting the # 3 seed in the East, doing it in a sweep, and outscoring their opponents 17-6 in the process definitely constitutes doing "better than last year!" They've accomplished the goal I set for them, so everything from here on in is bonus. And considering that they'll likely face Buffalo or the winner of Ottawa/Pittsburgh in the next round, I'm not expecting them to have much more success. But that first round series was a major thrill, and by winning it 4-0 they've guaranteed that they won't have a losing record in the 2007 playoffs.
I can also mention now that I was really hoping the Rangers would draw the Thrashers in the 1st round once they clinched their playoff spot, instead of having to play the Devils, but of course I didn't want to make too much of a big deal out of it. After all, there's nothing quite like saying you want your team to play XXXX, getting that wish, and then watching your team get smoked by XXXX. But this year it certainly worked out, as Atlanta was the team New York could beat, despite a lacklustre season series against them.
Finally, I did some theorizing earlier in the playoffs where I wanted to figure out if there was any way the Rangers and Devils could meet in the 2nd round, assuming both advanced, of course. I couldn't see any way that that could happen, but then one of the announcers on the MSG network said something about the Rangers potentially drawing New Jersey in the next round. I think that's impossible, but could certainly stand to be corrected, if I'm wrong. The way I saw it was this: If Buffalo (# 1) wins, then the Rangers are the lowest seed to advance (New Jersey, at # 2, will have knocked off # 7 Tampa Bay) and so they must play the Sabres. If the Islanders (# 8) somehow beat the Sabres, then New Jersey (# 2) would be the highest seed, and the Islanders would clearly be the lowest seed, so they'd play and the Rangers would get the winner of the Pens/Sens series (# 4 vs # 5). Did I miss something?
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4 comments:
I purposely said NOTHING (which I have to admit, was driving me crazy) during that entire series. As I commented in another post, don't freakin' jinx it!!
I was going to subtley see if it WAS possible today to talk about their first series..having accomplished the goal you set out for them already.
My theory is: it's OK to talk about things that are done. So once they clinched a playoff spot, there's no harm in yakking about them making the post-season. It'd be kind of foolish to talk about a sweep - or even advancing! - in a series that's only 2-0 or 3-0, though.
Bob McKenzie has gone so far as to call the Rangers the dark horse this year.
http://www.tsn.ca/tsn_talent/columnists/bob_mckenzie/
Interesting fact:
A year after being swept out of the first round by New Jersey in their return to the playoffs, following a seven-season absence, the Rangers turned the trick on the Thrashers, who exited their first series in four games. It was the Rangers' first sweep since the opening round of the 1994 playoffs -- the year they last won the Stanley Cup.
Speaking of comparisons to 1994...
As I told Boneman today, the parallel to that NYR/NYI opening round series goes beyond the sweep. In that series, the Rangers scored the first 15 goals, winning Games 1 and 2 by 6-0 scores, and taking a 3-0 lead in Game 3 before the Isles got on the scoreboard. Game 3 ended 5-1, meaning that through the first 3 games, the Rangers had never trailed. In Game 4, the Isles came out flying, scored 2 quick goals, before the Rangers methodically reclaimed control and scored the final 5 goals of the game, to win 5-2 and outscore NYI 22-3 for the series.
So what's the similarity? Well, while certainly not nearly as one-sided as the series in 1994 - although the 7-0 Game 3 result reminded some of us of 1994's Games 1 and 2 - this time around the Rangers once again didn't trail in any of the first 3 games! Game 4 was the first time Atlanta got a lead, and they were up by 1-0 and 2-1 scores before the Rangers tallied the final 3 markers to win the series.
Spooky, eh? (OK, not really. But interesting, anyway.)
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