It's a Wrap: Rangers fall 2 - 1 in Game 7

The season ended much as it began, with uncertainty.

The Rangers came out in Game 7 with a strong effort led by Sean Avery who exemplified everything that heart and soul is about in the game of hockey, but the team couldn't finish to get ahead after scoring the first goal and dominating the first period.

A flukey goal late in the first period and a one-shot effort by New York in the third sealed the deal for Washington who will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the next round.

Henrik Lundqvist rebounded nicely with some spectacular saves, but in the end his arch-nemesis "high-and-to-the-glove-side" reared it's ugly head as Sergei Federov launched a lethal wrist shot into the top corner.

Michal Rozsival showed exceptional fight as well, coming back after suffering two knee tweaks.

Even Wade Redden, though on for the final goal, had a stand out night and was steady in his own end.

But there is no such thing as moral victory and had the Rangers put forth this kind of effort in the previous two games, they may not have been in this mess.

The questions that critics had going into the series were valid: the powerplay, lack of scoring, and penalties. The Rangers were guilty on all accounts.

Make no mistake, this series was not lost tonight. This series was lost at Madison Square Garden.

No heart. No soul. No character. No loyalty to the fans.

There will be a lot of hindsight in the coming months of the offseason, but the coaching staff made several major flaws after winning Game 4.

Benching Avery in the most important game of the season was plain wrong. Head Coach John Tortorella's actions during Game 5 with the Washington fans have been well documented and he let the organization down regardless of who he was defending.

Colton Orr earned the right to play the last couple games after a season of hard work, not Aaron Voros, and his grit was missed.

Management should have never called the Hartford coaching staff to be behind the bench for Game 6 when former Assistant-turned-video analyst Mike Pelino, who has coached this group for nearly four seasons, was sitting in the press box.

Finally, the system failed.

Say what you will, but defensive hockey always wins and had the Rangers kept to the system that made them successful since the lockout, they would still be playing.

Of course, playing Monday quarterback is easy, but the success that Tortorella had in Tampa Bay was built around a roster of top-offensive talent. This Rangers group is the furthest thing from it.

Scott Gomez and Markus Naslund are not Martin St. Louis and Vinny LeCavalier.

The lack of a true sniper made certain players try and play outside themselves and the late-season transition to such a drastically different system yielded more disconnect than results.

Nik Zherdev, who led the team in scoring much of the season, saw less and less ice time under the new regime and seemed disinterested, angered, and frsutrated.

Not excusing professionalism, but a happy Zherdev scores goals. An unhappy one sits on the bench.

New York panicked and was short-sighted in their lost faith of former Head Coach Tom Renney. They were short-sighted in their non-signings of Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan. They were short-sighted in their signings of both Rozsival and Redden to major contracts.

With those factors, the Rangers lacked leadership and the captain (or any veterans) could not deliver.

Chris Drury, though playing through immense pain, was a disappointment. There was no rallying-cry over the past three games. No energy. A lifeless fade into summer.

Former Captain, and Assistant Captain, Brian Leetch was an exceptional athlete, but was never comfortable with the "C." Drury has shown similar discomfort.

So Dubi will have postgame coverage over at BB+ and when the emotions settle a bit we'll cover the season's farewell as well as the usual Season Review, Look Ahead, and Draft Preview.

The Rangers are done, but Blueshirt Bulletin is not. Thanks for staying tuned this season as the fun is only getting started...

Comments

[BLEEDING BLUE]

Well written. You wrapped up the series and the season in a couple of paragraphs. Keep up the great work in your coverage!!

RANGERS = EBARASSING!!

[adampasz]

Agreed. Especially about Jagr and Shanahan. I'm not saying they would have won the cup with them in the lineup, but there absence was definitely noticeable.

[stuart]

go young.. anisimov better be on the team next year and if Grachev shows he belongs him to..

young guys can play... NO FA moves unless it is a real sniper.

bye to mara(played hard), morris, orr, and zherdev who all will be gone for sure. I hope they bring Betts back, sjostrom I say pass, they need to get faster and bigger and that is the bottom line.....

[SaintStryfe]

It sucks that we're the laughing stock of the NHL after these last three games. It's going to dog us all off season.

Am I the only one who really, really doesn't want Torts behind the bench next season? I don't think he's done anything good this post-season.

Feels like only two things good came out of this season: Hank signed long-term and Callahan breaking out. Other then that, I can't point to one hugely successful thing.

And by the way, say what you want about Renney, I think he would have won this game. Maybe the old blood will come and kick the new blood's arse out.

[stuart]

Saintstryfe it does not matter because Torts will be the coach. No chance he will not be back.

they need to go to 4 lines, play the same forecheck game, get younger , and go from there..

bye to mara, morris, zherdev, orr, sjustrom, keep betts, antro(?), and go from there. they will be able to sign 1 real sniper if Sather goes young for the 3rd D pair, and let's all the marginal guys go.

They may be ble to trade Roszi who actually is better then many think.. Love to get rid of Nasluns also(save $4) he looks old, but how is that going to happen???

[akayama49]

How dumb are the preceding comments? As nice a guy as Renney was, there is no way the Rangers would have gotten into the playoffs given the tailspin Renney had this team in when he was fired. Tortorella brings fire and passion to the coaching staff and, despite his occasional excesses, is worth keeping at the helm as we address improving the Ranger core.

[Bob M]

I think Torts did a good job, he was just starved for real scoring talent. No one named Sidney or Alex on this team. Some good meat and potato guys like Orr, Dubi, Cally and Betts and one world class goalie. Staal will be a good D-man, he already is but he will never be the often mentioned second arrival of Brian Leetch. Mara and Girardi were decent most the year but are not game control guys like so many teams have on their rosters. (Chara, Green etc.) The current squad is probably a .500 team at best. If not for that unpresedented 10 game win steak at the start, they would have all been spectators last night like us.

[Ryan Sevean]

Very disappointing season. From the beginning of the year, when they were winning games from shootouts, I just knew they didn't have enough talent (scoring wise), to be able to go deep.

The better team won. I think that had they at the very least brought Shanny back even in a limited capacity, they would have at least had that true veteran presence that would maybe wouldn't have led to them crashing a couple of months ago. I like Torts, and was pissed when they didn't let him take over the first time around.

But now to something more important for next season - Ticket prices!!! Based on the product that was just on the ice, and the fact that the cap will probably be dropping this year, Will they, and Why would they raise ticket prices? We need to start an online petition. It was absolutely disgusting that they raised the prices as much as they did for the playoffs. I am upset that the Rangers didn't move on, but i am happy because then the Garden doesn't get anymore of my money this year. I sit in section 341, and my tickets were 52$ a seat this year - up from 46 last year. There is no reason why these seats should be more than 45 each, especially with the product on the ice. If anyone has any idea on how we can get an online petition started for the Rangers Brass to see about keeping prices down, please let me know. thanks
ryan
[email protected]

[Frank]

I'm very disappointed with Drury as a Captain. I said it at the begining of the season and I'll say it again ....he's not a leader. As much as everyone was down on Shanny, I would have much rather seen him re-signed and become the Captain. He was much more what I considered a leader for this team and showed it when he was sitting around waiting for the call while Sather jerked him around with false promises of calling him soon. Sather was an asshole for doing this.

[Paul S]

Dubi,
I know that you are still pining for Mr. Renney but the Rangers lost this series because they played too passively & did not pressure Washington's weak defensive group. Add that to too many penalties that they took, for most of the series & the power plays they did not get from the skewed officiating & you have such a small margin for error that they could not survive it.

[Frank]

Response to Bob M ...... You know as well as I do that there are only 3 guarantees in this world. Death, taxes and MSG ticket prices being raised. The place is getting a face lift and we'll pay for that through the nose with out a doubt. We didn't see a drop in prices after the lock out and placement of the salary cap so don't expect one any time soon

[Steve Sommers]

Since they were just eliminated, I fully expect Dolan to send my invoice for next season's tickets, along with a hefty price increase, sometime in May. Why would Dolan take the economy, a salary cap, or an average team into account when determining ticket prices?

[Bob M]

Actually Frank, your response was to be to Ryan. I made the same mistake the other day thinking the poster was on top of the comments when in fact the poster name is below the dotted line.

Since I am an out of town guy, ticket prices are not much concern to me but I feel your pain and especially for those that had to pay some big bucks for games 3-4 in the PO.

[benneyb]

The article was spot on regarding lack of heart etc., but dead wrong on the coaching aspect. Renney, a fine man, was long past his expiration date as coach. Torts is EXACTLY what this team needed then, and going forward. The personnel shortcomings I think we are all aware of and agree with.

[stuart]

Drury had a broken right hand. Read the NY post..

the guy played the last 7 games like that, still disappointed in him??????????

[Ryan Sevean]

Frank,
Actually my tickets went from $35 a ticket after the lockout (yes the prices had dropped), to $52 a ticket this year. In 4 years they have gone up almost $20, and have not made it past the second round in any of those 4 years in the playoffs. I am not going to argue with you about the prices, not trying to do that. I just think it is disgraceful, especially in our current economic times. I know that if I drop my tickets, someone else will be there to get them. But my question is, what determines what the true value of these tickets are? They have yet to put a day in and day out quality and entertaining product on the ice. The Detroit Red Wings did not raise their playoff ticket prices at all this year, or raise their regular season tickets from last year to this year, and they are the SC reigning champs. So what gives the Rangers the right to do it. Because they can. Well to me, that is unethical, and greedy. Karma is a bitch. Maybe they haven't won anything because the hockey gods see what a-holes sather and dolan are and won't let them win anything until they take care of their fans.
That is just my warped way of thinking.
Peace to all, and have a great summer. Enjoy the rest of the playoffs even though our beloved ones are out. Now you can sit back and relax and just enjoy the game. Because in the end that is all it is, a game.
Best Regards,
Ryan

[Koffy]

Thanks Dan for the analysis. Agreed ...

Naslund and Zherdev are no Jagr and Straka ..

Voros is no Shanahan

Redden (3 goals) is no Tyutin (8 goals) ...

The team has been mismanaged.

Sather and Torts has to go.

Torts got them into the playoffs, and he cost them the first round because of his idiotic, asinine move of benching Avery while up 3-1.
Then his suspension for going after the fans. Nice... he really loses credibility.

Future is not bright for Rangers unless they send Redden and Naslund to minors; let go of Zherdev, Mara, Morris, Voros ... then they would have some cap space.

Bottom line: Sather decisions need to cost him his job.

[cwede]

I do believe that the biggest problem this year was no Jagr (no reliable source of O, no one with the confidence and skill to make happen the big goal late), but its hard to blame the team for not resigning him, as he wanted a multiyear deal, given the extreme considerations of the current labor agreement re Multi-year contracts for older players. The failure was last year not making sure he reached the threshold to trigger the option year (Classic Renney).
Yesterday's result was typical - my comment during the Renney months was he'd rather lose a game 2-1 than win 5-4...

[rnr]

i liked renney but we wouldnt have made the playoffs without torts period. he is our coach like it or not.the question is what players are needed for him to be successful.if the roster is essentially the same lets pick another team.

[Koffy]

cwede - your comments on Jagr --- he wanted a two year contract and Rangers said no ... Naslund wanted a two year contract and Rangers say yes ... what is the deal with that? If you give it to Naslund instead of Jagr you should get fired ... bye, bye Sather ...

rnr - Torts got them into the playoffs, but as Nick kypreos said, he did an idiotic thing to stroke his ego in benching avery. Series turner ... so Torts got them in, and Torts got them out ---

[joe]

there was scoring trouble last year WITH jagr

the problem goes back to summer 2007 and the signing of drury and gomez to contracts worth of guys like crosby/ovechkin/malkin and expecting them to produce something other than 60 points a season

there's no playmaking center on this team, no winger capable of backing the opposing defense with speed

sather has yet to address these needs after 8 seasons

i know the cupboard was bare when he took over, but the list of excuses has run out

[joe]

that should read "WORTHY of guys like"

[Dan Akeson]

Great comments all around and some terrific debate! Here's a question of philosophy since much of the debate is focused on the coaches:
Do you fit players into the coaches system or fit the coach around the current players?
It's not exactly which came first the chicken or the egg, but it's an interesting approach either way.

[ROC328]

Let's all face it the Rangers just could not keep up with the pace of the Caps game...
What I would do is turn this team over the young guys. Dubi,staal,Lundqvist,Caly,and other under 28 year old players. When is AVERY going to get a call? Maybe after they carry him out of the arena on a stretcher? NHL should be ashamed of it self.
Yes, Drury was injured and played despite his pain but it seems like the last big goal he scored was against us in Buffalo. Gomez or Drury has to go someone will take them despite no trade clause! Redden farm out and eat his contract as long as he is in Hartford he is off the Team salary cap! Mara you are a great Ranger but the back line must get younger and faster. Rosi played with guts during series but he plays the game with a piano on his back. Many young prospects coming to the big team. If you can get a taker for Rosi let him go! We should have kept straka because he was cheaper and quicker than Naslund... Naslund game is in the past... We have a lot of quality young play coming up but not a number one center or winger. Glenn Sats I get the feeling you play golf as much as you can and rely on everyone else for your information. You should just leave this organization and let someone with passion for the Rangers take over. WAYNE REDDEN 36 million! Mark Streit should have been your target! Young and would have fot into the young nucleous of this team.... It seems like the COUNTRY CLUB called the NY Rangers is on it's way back to the NHL!

[T_Bird]

Fire Sather!