Pat Rice

Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.

The Rangers season came to a disappointing close, falling in the first round to the Pittsburgh Penguin in just five games. This is the earliest they were eliminated since 2011.  The bad part is they were completely outclassed, losing by a combined score of 11-3 in the last two games, 19-6 in their four losses, and 21-10 for the series.

Pittsburgh had their way on the special team units, scoring on 8 of 21 power plays for a 38% success rate, while the Rangers were 2 of 19, just over 10%.

The Penguins were the better team.  They had energy and execution, while the Rangers didn’t.  This did not come as a surprise because Pittsburgh played very good hockey the second half of the season, while the Rangers have been inconsistent since Thanksgiving.  The series was a combination of losing to a better team and the Rangers tank being empty.  Read the rest of this entry →