Tonight's 4-1 loss to the Washington Capitals wasn't necessarily the way in which the New York Rangers wanted to conclude their 2011-12 regular season campaign, but it's nothing the team should be discouraged over. Henrik Lundqvist made that clear by skating to center ice after handing his jersey to a fan and beginning to clap for the supportive fans that have been with the team from day one of this magical season. One season may be over, but a whole new one begins next week.
Another sluggish start for the Blueshirts cost them in this one. Just 32 seconds into regulation, Brooks Laich cleanly beat Derek Stepan on an offensive zone draw to get the puck to Alex Ovechkin, who immediately ripped a wrist shot through traffic and past Henrik Lundqvist. Less than two minutes later, Mathieu Perreault caught some puck luck and had Roman Hamrlik's shot from the point deflect off his body and in. Suddenly, the Rangers found themselves in a 2-0 hole thanks to a lost faceoff and a miscoverage on defense.
Late in the first, while on the powerplay, John Carlson scored on a one-timer from above the circle to give the Capitals a 3-0 advantage heading into the intermission. Moral of the story? Rangers need to clean up their act in the opening twenty minutes beginning in game one of the postseason - that's where they've seemed to struggle most.
It didn't get much better for New York early in the second, as Nik Backstrom finished a feed from Alex Semin to pretty much put the game away at that point. The Rangers did respond with some pressure of their own, and even outshot the Caps by a large margin in the middle stanza, but they were only able to cut the deficit to 4-1.
That one goal came from Brian Boyle, who followed up on his own rebound that came from a wraparound attempt. That was Boyle's sixth goal in ten games as he continues to heat up for the Rangers with the playoffs coming up in a few days. I've criticized the guy a lot this year, but he's on the road to somewhat redeeming himself. Boyle can surprisingly become a threat come playoff time if he keeps this up.
Henrik Lundqvist obviously didn't have the night he would've liked after returning from a game off due to arm soreness. However, he didn't play 'bad', either. The only goal you can really fault him on is Backstrom's, because the rest were either deflections or through traffic. I wouldn't worry about Henrik - he never fails to become a whole new beast when the playoffs roll around.
All in all, it was the Rangers' start to the game that resulted in this loss to be completely honest. That and failed powerplay attempts gave them a very little chance to rebound and catch up to the Caps on the scoreboard. Sure, losing three of four to end the season isn't satisfying by any means, but it's also not the end of the world. A new season begins next week.
That "new season" will begin with the Blueshirts hosting the Ottawa Senators, who became the Rangers' first round opponents in the playoffs with both the Capitals and Panthers winning their respective games tonight. The Sens will undoubtedly present New York with a tough challenge, but I will have plenty of series preview material coming your way later in the week.
Also, the Rangers still have a shot at the Presidents' Trophy despite losing to the Caps. That will depend on the outcome of the Canucks-Oilers match-up later tonight out west. Check back on the blog later, or in the morning if you aren't the night owl type, for the result there.
Only one thing remains to be said: it's playoff time.
UPDATE (12:30 a.m.): The Vancouver Canucks have defeated the Edmonton Oilers to win the Presidents' Trophy as the team with the best record in the NHL for the 2011-12 season. As a result, the New York Rangers have finished second in the League with a 51-27-7 record and 109 points.
The playoff schedule will be announced Sunday at 1 p.m. eastern time.
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