Nail-Biter Of A Third Period, But Rangers Advance!

After getting up 4-1 in the 2nd period of Game 5 against the Devils tonight, the Rangers let New Jersey claw back to 4-3 before the period was over. In the final frame, John Madden terrifyingly had a chance to tie the game on a penalty shot, but fortunately Henrik Lundqvist stood tall and kept his team in front on the scoreboard.

Several excruciating minutes later, with the Devils dominating play in their frenzied attempt to draw even, Brodeur came out for the sixth skater just long enough for rookie Brandon Dubinsky to pot a beautiful empty netter and help his team post their second consecutive 5-3 win over their hated rivals. With that, they dispatched the Devils almost as convincingly as the Rangers themselves had been knocked out by New Jersey in the first round two years ago. Particularly noteworthy this time around was the fact that the two teams met 13 times, between regular season and the playoffs, with New York winning 11 of those games and both losses coming after regulation had ended. That's a pretty impressive bit of domination, especially when you consider the Devils finished 4th in their conference and tallied almost 100 points in the regular campaign. Not exactly a pushover club for the Rangers to beat 11 times in 13 meetings!

And so for the second year in a row, the Rangers have advanced past the first round of the postseason. According to my calculations, they'll face one of the following four teams next:

• Montreal, if both the Habs and Capitals win their series [season series results: NYR got 7 of 8 possible pts, Mtl got 3 of 8 possible pts];
• Pittsburgh, if Montreal and Philadelphia both win their series (this seems the most likely scenario, as those teams are both leading their respective series currently) [season series results: NYR got 10 of 16 possible pts, Pit got 8 of 16 possible pts];
• Washington, if the Capitals and Bruins both prevail in their series [season series results: NYR got 6 of 8 possible pts, Wash got 4 of 8 possible pts]; or
• Philadelphia, if the Flyers and Bruins both complete upset wins in the first round (this is the only scenario where the Rangers would actually have home ice advantage in the second round) [season series results: NYR got 12 of 16 possible pts, Phil got 8 of 16 possible pts].

Obviously, at this point, I'm not favouring any of the above teams over any other. I'm still just a-glow with the prospect of New York Rangers hockey continuing for at least another four games!