It’s likely that, if you’re a Rangers fan, you’d started to lose hope (in the game, and in the season) by the time Erik Johnson scored to give the Blues a 3–2 lead last night. But then Wade Redden tied the score with a shot from the point, and, if just for a moment, you had to think that maybe anything’s possible. After all, to reiterate, Wade Redden had just scored a goal.
That moment of optimism didn’t last long. To be exact, it lasted a minute and eleven seconds, right up until Paul Kariya scored the game-winner thanks to a pretty spectacular defensive breakdown. Henrik Lundqvist was especially shaky last night — the Blues needed just sixteen shots to net their four goals — and though Marian Gaborik snapped out of his funk with a (fluky) goal and two assists, the Rangers failed to capitalize on a pivotal five-on-three power play early in the third period that could have swung the momentum in their favor.
The Bruins lost last night, so the Rangers remain three points behind them as they prepare to ship up to Boston for Sunday’s critical, nationally televised game. But Atlanta won, tying the Rangers in points, and technically moving ahead of them by virtue of fewer games played. It could be worse, we suppose. During last night’s game, we pulled up ESPN.com’s conference-standings page, to see how many games the bubble teams had remaining. This is what came up:
It’s since been fixed, so we guess the Rangers haven’t actually been disbanded and replaced by a second Philadelphia franchise. That’s something, right?