Tonight, the Rangers pulled off a very improbable victory to open their 2008/09 playoffs. They were outplayed and outshot early on by the home town Capitals but managed to escape the first period with the game still scoreless. Then I watched them build up and subsequently blow a 3-1 lead in the 2nd (and early 3rd) period and provide the only nail-biting finish of any of the 3 Eastern Conference openers tonight (the other two both ended 4-1 for the favourites).
Much to my surprise, the Rangers retook the lead, 4-3, midway through the 3rd period and held on to win by that score.
Or maybe it shouldn't have come as such a shock, considering their seasonal record in 1-goal games: 23-10-9. When games were decided by 2 or more goals, they posted a rather lackluster record of 20 wins and 20 losses; but if they could keep things tight, they picked up 55 of a possible 84 points. And considering that more than half of their games ended up with a 1-goal differential, it's pretty fortunate that they could do so well in that scenario!
I wonder if any team played in more close games this past season than the boys from Manhattan?
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