With the win today over the Devils and a truly unbelievable absolute gem of a game by Mike Smith, the Rangers drew the Capitals in the first round of the playoffs. Fucking unreal. What a season you could have easily counted this team out 2-3 times and they pull the perfect 1st round matchup.
As I'm sure most of you remember, the Rangers took 3/4 from the Capitals. The series began back in November with a 5-3 loss on Garden ice, a game in which they blew a 3-2 lead in the second. These teams met again a little of a month later where Callahan Dubinsky and Anisimov combined for 4 goals in a game that saw the Rangers put a 7 spot on the scoreboard while being perfect defensively, an incredible feet they managed to do 3 times this year (Toronto and Philadelphia being the others).
The Rangers took the remaining two games in Washington. The first was a Ranger come from behind shootout victory where believe it or not, but GABORIK had the game tying goal in the third. They proceeded to once again stomp out the Capitals, this time a 6-0 game that Eric Christensen had 2 goals and 2 assists for 4 points.
With the way this team has played defensively all season long, it wouldn't be too hard to envision a team very similar to Montreal in the playoffs. Losing Callahan was a huge blow, but this team has shown time and time again they will not quit on you. With Lundqvist in net, the Rangers match up perfectly with the Capitals. I'm sure no one has forgotten that series loss to the Capitals a few years ago, so maybe with a little better coaching the Rangers can pull off the upset.
What an amazing first round pull. This is the playoffs, and anything can happen now. This site will be up the entire playoffs as long as the Rangers are in it, and I will personally see to it that for every game there will be plenty of discussion if any other Ranger fans pumped for the playoffs want to talk about the best possible first round matchup they could have drawn.
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