New York, NY (WFAN) -- And so it's over.
The question as a Rangers fan is what's the status of Jagr and what does he do? The question as a hockey fan is are you more upset that the Rangers are out because you are a fan or because now that they are out hockey will cease to exist in the New York market until the trade deadline next season?
The Rangers are in the same spot they were in a year ago. A dominating first round performance and a quick exit in round two. Last year it was Buffalo and Chris Drury's goal with 7.7 seconds left in game 5 to force OT and eventually a Buffalo win. They won it in six. This year it was a 3-0 lead in game one that it took the Rangers two more games to psychologically recover from and start moving their collective feet.
As noted in many places, game four was an aberration. It was the signature game for the Rangers in the series but not many teams in the modern era have been up 3-0 on the road and actually swept the series with a road win in game four. The Wings did it against an Avalanche team that was totally demoralized and decimated by injuries to three of their four best players. The Stars needed a 4OT win last night in game six to avoid having a 3-0 lead in games wind up 3-3 with game 7 at San Jose. They lost games four and five.
The Rangers won game four because they were better than the Penguins (who looked dreadful) and because their captain carried them. The Rangers lost game five because they were out skated, outplayed, and their best players were kept quiet. Henrik Lundqvist was the reason that game was as close as it was. That being said, where was he in game one and three? The elites don't take a game off in the post season and he's not at that status yet where he'll steal a series like Mike Richter did on many occasions. Playoff goaltending is like pitching, you need a lot of it to win. The Rangers needed more from Lundqvist and didn't get enough of it. His opposite number Marc Andre Fluery was better in every game.
The Rangers have some questions, like Jagr and Brendan Shanahan. Shanahan looked terrific at times but the man has to ice his whole body after every game just to play the next day. How many more 80 game campaigns are left in that body? The defense needs to be shored up a bit but overall is adequate enough to stay in the mix. The kids like Stall and Dubinsky developed well. They are well run and well coached. When does Greg Moore get to prove what he can do? His senior year at the University of Maine he was a dominant power forward, among the elite in the NCAA. He should be ready to show people he can play like Shanahan did when he was younger.
The other question that gets discussed in the scouting community is whether the Rangers need a solid #2 stopper so Hank only has to play 55 games? Dominik Hasek is done in Detroit after this season but that's and expensive backup. There is still talk that Detroit will go out and get Ryan Miller from Buffalo which makes sense in so many ways (he's a Michigan kid, he played at Michigan State, and the Wings need a #1 goalie because it isn't Chris Osgood at this point in his career and Jimmy Howard isn't ready yet). Should that happen it sets the goalie carousel in motion a bit. Lundqvist looked burnt late in the season.
The Rangers season can be considered a success on many levels, but reality shows they are in the same spot they finished in last year. The best you can say is that they held serve. Not terrible, not backwards, but not the step the Ranger faithful were expecting with what they added in the off season.
