3-0 LEAD BECOMES 3-1 FOR RANGERS 

    VERSUS 

The New York Rangers went from having taken total control of their series with the Washington Capitals to being on the verge of elimination as they blew a 3-0 lead through two periods and lost at 12:36 of double overtime on a Jason Chimera goal, 4-3.

The play that likely will do them in, and one that Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist will have nightmare’s over for years, was a bungled play by Marian Gaborik. The puck was brought into the Rangers zone by  Marcus Johansson, who torched the Blueshirts for two goals in the game, and dropped for Chimera at the right point. Chimera was covered by Brian McCabe on the 2-on-3 rush up ice. Chimera put a shot on net that was partially blocked by the Rangers’ d-man. Lundqvist extended out to cover the puck, but Gaborik, likely looking to drop it into the corner, literally took it away from his netminder. The puck got behind Lundqvist, and McCabe, who’d left covering Chimera, was in “no-man’s land” while the Washington Left-Winger scored what will likely be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, and certainly easiest goal of his career.

While that was the play that did them in, allowing three goals in the third period after being so incredibly dominant over the first two is the real culprit in this game.

How many times have you heard the “experts” talk about a) what a good third period team the Rangers have been all season, and b) it’s the dreaded three-goal lead? Moreso than that, how many times have you read of coaches talking about playing the full sixty minutes?  This game was 92:36, and the Rangers played “Rangers’ Hockey” for the first 40 of them and then were on their heels for the rest of it.

Now, it’s all over but the shouting. Sure it’s been done before, coming back from a three-games-to-one deficit. Washington has done it before and that is likely to be the message that John Tortorella will give his Rangers’ team. However the difference is that here was such a terrible way to lose and after having dominated so strongly that the odds of it happening are extreme at best and to be fair.

The two teams will lock up again on Saturday afternoon at 3pm on NBC.

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES

Eastern Conference Quarterfinals – Game Four

Madison Square Garden, April 20, 2011

Game Summary                   Event Summary

Team Notes:

– The Rangers were defeated by the Washington Capitals, 4-3, in double overtime tonight at Madison Square Garden, in Game Four of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal match-up.  The Capitals now lead the series 3-1.

– Tonight’s contest was the ninth longest game in Rangers history, and the longest since their 2-1 win vs. Buffalo on April 29, 2007 in Game Three of their Conference Semifinal match-up (16:43 of the second overtime).  It is the seventh time the Rangers and Capitals required overtime in the playoffs, and second of the series.  New York is now 2-5 in those contests.  Tonight’s contest was the longest between the two teams, out-lasting the previous longest set in Game One of this series by 14:12 (78:24).

– New York is now 198-215-8 all-time in 421 playoff contests, including a 110-83-2 record at home, and are 15-18 in 33 postseason contests vs. Washington.

– Tonight was the first Game Four loss the Rangers suffered since April 29, 2006 (5-1 over the span).  New York is now 39-29 all-time in Game Fours of playoff series.

– The Blueshirts tallied two goals in a seven-second span of the second period, at 13:40 and 13:47.  The Rangers record for fastest two goals in a playoff game is six seconds, set by Rod Gilbert who tallied both goals at 9:32 and 9:38 of the second period at Chicago on April 11, 1968.  The NHL record for fastest two goals in a playoff game is five seconds, by Detroit vs. Chicago on April 11, 1965.

– New York notched three goals in the second period.  The last time the Rangers tallied three goals in a single period during the playoffs was in the second period on April 15, 2009, in Game One of their Quarterfinal match-up at Washington (4-3 win).

Player Notes:

– Brandon Dubinsky notched one goal and added an assist for his fourth career multi-point performance in the postseason.  He has now tallied three points (two goals, one assist) in the last two games.  He also led all forwards with a career-high, 33:17 of ice time.  Entering tonight’s contest, he led all NHL forwards in playoff ice time (24:21).

– Ruslan Fedotenko recorded two assists and was credited with a career-high, nine hits to capture second star honors.  His assist at 13:40 of the second period was his first playoff point as a Ranger.

– Marian Gaborik tallied his first playoff goal as a Ranger at 13:40 of the second period, and has now registered a point in each of the last two games (one goal, one assist).  He also registered four shots on goal and was credited with four hits in 28:21 of ice time.

– Henrik Lundqvist made 49 saves in net, and is now 1-3 with a 2.08 goals against average and a .922 save percentage in four playoff games.  His 49 saves are a playoff career high.  Lundqvist has now appeared in 30 consecutive games dating back to Feb. 11 at Atlanta, and has started in each of the Rangers’ last 33 playoff contests.

– Artem Anisimov opened the game’s scoring with his first career playoff goal/point at 5:24 of the second period.  He also registered three shots on goal and three hits in 22:02 of ice time.

– Chris Drury recorded the primary assist on Anisimov’s second period goal, and tied for the team-high with 11 faceoff wins.  Drury has now tallied 89 points (47 goals, 42 assists) in 134 career playoff contests.

– Michael Sauer tallied his first career playoff point with an assist on Anisimov’s goal at 5:24 of the second period, and was credited with four hits in a career-high, 32:32 of ice time.

– Dan Girardi led all skaters with nine blocked shots and a career-high, 39:45 of ice time.  Entering tonight’s contest, Girardi was tied for first in the NHL in playoff blocked shots (14), and ranked eighth in the league in ice time (26:10).

– Brian Boyle led all skaters with a career-high, 10 hits, registered a team-high, five shots on goal, and won 11 of 18 faceoffs (61%) in 29:51 of ice time.  Entering tonight’s contest, Boyle was tied for third in the NHL with 15 shots on goal in the playoffs.

– Marc Staal was credited with five blocked shots and logged 36:55 of ice time in the contest.  He currently ranks second on the team with nine blocked shots and 29:19 of ice time per game in the playoffs.

– Brandon Prust was credited with seven hits and recorded four shots on goal in 24:23 of ice time.  He currently leads the team with 21 hits in the postseason.

Post-Game Quotes:

– John Tortorella on coming back in the series…
“Losing an overtime game in the playoffs hurts all of the time but our team will bounce back.  We can’t look at the hill.  We have to win the next game.  We have to find a way to win one hockey game and we will see what happens from there.”

– Henrik Lundqvist on the third period…
“We had a tough time getting pucks out and we paid for it.  They are a good team.  We talked about being very careful with the puck.  They are a dangerous team that can make some plays.  They were back in it.”

– Chris Drury on the team…
“I think this team, all year, has shown that (we) are a gutsy group of guys.  We don’t give in.  We will take it one day at a time, one game at a time and try to go to Washington and get a big win.”

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