If you’re a New York Rangers fans, this was a series that you may never forget. If you’re a Washington Capitals fan, this was a series that you want to quickly erase from your memory.
Everybody left the Rangers for dead after falling behind 3-1, and facing a win-or-die Game 5 at home. It was supposed to be a done deal.
But the Rangers never believed they were out of this series. They believed that they could win that Game 5 back in the Garden. They believed in themselves when the rest of the NHL world basically wrote them off as chokers.
I know I did.
The Rangers carried that belief to a Game 5 win at home, and rode that small wave of momentum back to Washington for Game 6. It was there, among the sea of red at the Verizon Center, where the Rangers blue-chip defense stifled the Capitals’ potent offensive assault and took firm control over the series.
The Capitals deserve credit because they could had just laid down and died in Game 7 on Wednesday night. But they fought hard, and even took a lead into the first intermission. And then, right on script, they let the Rangers back into the game.
Game 7 epitomized how special the race for the Stanley Cup truly is. Both teams gave it all they had, but in the end, the Rangers reached deep down inside, relied on the tremendous goaltending of Henrik Lundqvist, and carried themselves all the way to a Saturday showdown with the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals at the Garden.
Tonight, the New York Rangers showed why they were the top dogs in the East, and Alexander Ovechkin, who promised a Washington win tonight, is going to have to write a full page apology in tomorrow’s edition of the Washington Post.
Kareem Gantt covers the wide world of sports for RantSports. For more from this author, follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook, and add him to your network on Google Plus.
