Rangers-Capitals: Washington's Superior Talent Trumps Strong New York Effort

The team that wanted it more couldn’t pull it off.  

The Rangers, dominated the early going, led by a re-energized Sean Avery, and then stayed even with the Capitals thanks to a razor-sharp Henrik Lundqvist. 

As the game wore on, however, the superior talent of the Washington Capitals allowed them to take over the game. 

The first period was all Rangers, but it ended tied 1-1 as the Capitals scored a fluke goal on one of their two shots on net. 

The hometown Caps came on much stronger in the second period, and were clearly setting the pace by the end of the period, but the score remained the same. 

In the third, the Capitals dominated completely, allowing the Rangers only one shot as they kept the Blueshirts pinned in to their own zone. 

There were many Washington scoring opportunities, but all, including great efforts by Green, Kozlov, and Backstrom,  were stopped by tremendous saves until a playoff great from yesteryear, Sergei Fedrov, cashed in with a goal on a beautiful shot with less than five minutes to play.   

After the go-ahead goal, the Rangers seemed to have no ability to respond.  The Capitals continued with great opportunities, as Lundqvist seemed to be left to fend for himself. 

The Capitals have to be very proud to have pulled this off.  Coming back from a 3-1 deficit is extremely rare in the NHL, with less than 25 teams having pulled it off in the long history of the league.  The team now goes on to face Crosby, Malkin and the Pens, in what should be another great series.

The Rangers now have a long summer to regroup.  They will of course be frustrated that they let Washington back in the series.  They played very poorly in Games Five and Six, but left nothing on the ice in Game Seven, they simply lacked the talent to pull it off. 

Lundqvist will keep the Rangers competitive, and they will likely make the playoffs again next year, however, similar to the Ottawa Senators, they find themselves tight against the cap with the wrong core (other than Lundqvist) signed to big contracts. 

A great series, a great final game.  Sad that there won’t be a New York area team in the playoffs going forward, but expect to see some great hockey in Round Two.