The NY Rangers won Game 7 against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night in New York and now the team has advanced to the Eastern conference finals against the Tampa Bay Lighting after taking the series 4-3 and they made a comeback after being down 3-1 in the series despite the guarantee from Alexander Ovechkin that the Caps would win.
The Rangers became the first team in NHL history to come back from a 3-1 deficit two years in a row and now they advance to the east finals for the third time in four years. The Rangers made a run to the Stanley Cup finals last year and ended up losing to the Kings and they came into the playoffs this season as the number one seed. The Caps miss out on another east finals and they have to look back and wonder how they lost.
The series was tight the whole way and the game t matchup went into overtime before Derek Stepan scored the winning goal. The Rangers have played one-goal games for the entire postseason and they did it again on Thursday night. The Rangers scored four goals in Game 6 and that was the most in a while and now they have the Lightning, who took care of the Canadiens in six games. The Rangers and the Canadiens played in the east finals last season and now the Lightning, Rangers, Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks are the last teams left.
The Rangers got a goal from Kevin Hayes in the second period after Ovechkin scored in the first period and those were the only two goals in regulation. Hayes scored on a great one-timer past Braden Holtby, while Stepan was able to score after a shot from Dan Girardi. The Rangers have been criticized for losing too many faceoffs this series, but the final goal came after a faceoff win.
Stepan won the face off and got some help from Jesper Fast, who was able to get the puck out into the zone. Girardi let go a shot and Stepan was able to bury the winner. The Rangers came back from the brink in Game 5 and scored with under two minutes left to tie the game before winning in overtime and that started the comeback. The team won four games in a row and now the Capitals have an offseason of disappointment and questions.
The Lightning and Rangers series is not short on intrigue, as the teams made a trade last year with Martin St. Louis and Ryan Callahan. That will be a line through things and so will the fact that Brian Boyle, Anton Stralman and Callahan are former Rangers. The Rangers now will try and make it two years in a row getting into the Stanley Cup finals.