Normally a game seven is something one sweats out. It's nerve wracking, stressful and causes terrible pain to endure. Of course the players don't have it easy either. But us fans, New York Ranger fans.....we know a little about game sevens. Out of the ten played in NY Ranger history before last night the Rangers won all five at home, lost all five on the road. Last night in DC something very strange happened. Not only did the Rangers win, they did so in convincing fashion.
I admit it was kinda surreal. As any good Ranger fan would be I was worried that any lead the Rangers may have had would be gone as the closing seconds of the third approached. I mean, who could have expected goals from Arron Asham and Taylor Pyatt to hold up? Who would have expected them to score at all? This was not expected. What happened to the Leafs? That's what was supposed to happen to us. I could see Ovie popping two or three in the third. I could see a game tying goal late as seconds tic off one by one. I could even see a game winner in OT by a Cap player finally ending the agony that is being a Ranger fan.
But that's not what happened at all.
Nope, the NY Rangers played the second best game of the series (game 6 1-0 win) the night before and then topped it with the 5 goal outburst and a second consecutive shut out by Lundqvist. It's the only time I have ever enjoyed a game seven featuring the Rangers. It was kinda fun not stressing out each shift. I mean, after the first period I never felt like the Caps could come back based on the play on the ice. Of course my mind was telling me that the Leaf collapse was right around the corner but my eyes kept saying, "relax, we got this".
The Great Eight had planted McDonagh into the boards, no call. He was skating like crazy and looked determined. Thankfully, Ryan was OK and returned to help shut down Ovie. In fact many players contributed to stopping Alex. It got to the point that I didn't cringe when Ovie picked up the puck, rather I was excited to see who would stop him this time. It was fantastic to watch. Never in a million years did I think I could watch a NY Rangers game seven and not have a cow during the game at some point.
Now the Rangers face the Boston Bruins with game one on Thursday night. The Beans had their own game seven, referenced before so neither team has a rest advantage. This is an old rivalry that will be renewed. Those longtime Ranger fans who hated Boston in the past will get to hate them again.
So, to wrap this up, we enjoyed the best game seven ever. Little to no stress, an easy win if you will. Not sure what it says about the Caps but I'm quite sure it means the Rangers will torture us for at least two more weeks.
----}- Bird
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