The New York Rangers suffered a tough overtime loss against the Boston Bruins in Game 1 and the team was never able to recover in their Eastern conference second round series, as the Blueshirts are down 3-0 in the series with Game 4 coming on Thursday night from Madison Square Garden with the chance of an elimination sweep.
The Rangers have had issues scoring all playoffs and they never could recover once Boston took the lead in Game 3 and the team only got one goal out of Taylor Pyatt, while the Bruins got the winning goal from Daniel Paille. Henrik Lundqvist has been fantastic for the Rangers all postseason, but the team could not score enough for him and after a strange play where the puck deflected from the goal line, Paille was able to put it in.
New York has been disappointed from the play of stars Rick Nash and Brad Richards, who have done barely anything in the postseason. Nash has one goal and Richards has been playing so bad that he is going to be a healthy scratch for Game 4 after playing less than 10 minutes in Game 3. The Rangers signed Richards to a huge nine-year, $60 million contract two years ago, but his favor with the franchise is clearly fading and now there is a chance that he could be done as a Ranger after playing on the fourth line in Game 3 with Chris Kreider and Arron Asham. Richards appeared frustrated after Game 3 and said that he was surprised and disappointed that he was a healthy scratch.
Richards has seven years left on his deal and his cap his is nearly $7 million could be something the Rangers want to get out of, as the new CBA allows the team to do a buyout over the next two seasons. Richards and coach John Tortorella have a past relationship after winning the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but his poor play has forced Torts to make the move. Richards said that he will do all he can to improve and that the series isn't over for the Rangers. Not many teams have come back from a 3-0 deficit and one thing that the Rangers have in their corner is the play of Lundqvist, who has been one of the best goaltenders in the postseason. Lundqvist posted back to back shutouts against the Capitals at the end of their first round series and if he can play like that again the Rangers may have a chance to comeback. The Bruins are playing like they did a couple years ago when they won the Stanley Cup and if they sweep the Rangers out of the playoffs they will be ready for that again.