And Thus Ends Another Rangers Season

I didn't watch much of Game 5 this afternoon, mainly because each time I turned it on - twice in the second period, in fact - the Penguins scored within a minute or two! I hoped for a Rangers comeback in my absence after the second goal, and got it in the third period, but then overtime sent the Penguins on to face the Flyers in the Conference Finals. That makes the Rangers 0-for-2 in playoff overtime games this year, but this one was much more costly than the one against New Jersey in Round One. Oh well, another year to ponder "what might have been," had the Rangers had just a little more to give. At least this year they didn't blow a 1-goal lead in the final few seconds of Game 5, with the series tied 2-2 (as they did last year against the Sabres). I was hoping all that talk about "every 33 years" (a team comes back from trailing 0-3 in a playoff series to win it in 7 games) might come true for them this time, but I guess it wasn't meant to be (the Sharks may still claim that honour, especially if they win Game 6 in Dallas tonight).

Among the many noteworthy accomplishments for the Rangers this year was one that came very recently: they lasted longer in the playoffs (by part of a day) than the hated Montreal Canadiens! Considering the high hopes that Habs fans had for their team in the 2008 postseason, I think I'm feeling a whole lot better right now than most of them are! And the Rangers did manage to be among the final six teams to be alive in the quest for the Cup, which is right around where they finished last year (in both cases, well above what their regular season record would've indicated). That's not too shabby at all! It's times like this, though, that I'm really happy that I've got my (1994) Cup to look back on, as otherwise I honestly think I might have gone my entire life without ever seeing them win it!