10:03 am May. 24, 2012
Someone should tell the New York Rangers that playoff bonuses aren't based on the number of games played.
If the Rangers are to advance to the Stanley Cup finals, they will have to win the last two games of their series against the New Jersey Devils. This is the second time they have faced this situation, and if they make it through again, it will have been their third straight seven-game series.
The Rangers played three different games during last night's 5-3 loss to the Devils. The first occurred during the first 9:49, when the Devils raced out to a 3-0 lead. The Rangers owned the next 45:47, scrambling back to tie the score and revive the Madison Square Garden crowd. Then, Ryan Carter took a centering pass from Stephen Gionta and stabbed it by Henrik Lundqvist to give the Devils the lead they would not relinquish.
New Jersey can close out the series Friday night at home.
Coincidentally enough, yesterday was the 18th anniversary of Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference finals between the Devils and Rangers, a game that the Devils won to take a 3-2 series lead. What followed next has become part of Rangers history. Team captain Mark Messier guaranteed a Rangers win and then backed it up, sending the series back to New York for Game 7.
Will Rangers captain Ryan Callahan stand up today and make the same guarantee? And would these exhausted Rangers be able to follow through on it?
