The Season Ends For The Rangers In Boston

A season that has to qualify as a disappointment ended in the Boston TD Garden, as the Bruins wore out the Rangers, and dusted off the Blueshirts 3-1 in game 5 of the eastern conference semi finals. The Bruins now move on to play Pittsburgh while the Rangers move to chalkboard for a plan to move forward.

From my view the Bruins were too big for the Rangers, and Torey Klug  is this years rookie shooting star. An undrafted player from Eastern Michigan  ripped the Rangers for 4 goals in his 1st 5 NHL games of any kind, let alone the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Bruins 4th line dominated the Rangers 4th line and they got far more offense from their defense then the Rangers did.

The Rangers grabbed the lead in the 1st period when GASP they scored a power play goal. Dan Girardi with the blast just before midway of the 1st gave New York the lead going to intermission.

Then the nightmare that was Krug tied the game and led Boston to total dominance the rest of the game. Krug beat Henrik Lundqvist high and left shoulder. It has been speculated that Lundqvist suffered a left shoulder injury earlier in the playoffs. If so more kudos to Krug for taking advantage of the situation. Gregory Campbell scored the last 2 Boston goals, but make no mistake it was Krug who got the Bruins juice flowing. Campbell's last goal was a series clinching empty netter.

The Rangers face many questions in the near future and I will tackle much of  that in upcoming columns. The immediate questions will be what of the futures of head coach John Tortorella and expensive Brad Richards. The Rangers can amnesty most of remaining on Richards large contract, but they can also do that after next year as well should they give Richards a mulligan on this years disaster. I think much of that decision will be based on what is available through free agency or trade this offseason.

The situation with Tortorella will be interesting. A case can be made in my opinion for keeping him or letting him go. The Rangers, while disappointing this year aren't chopped liver. they are still in the upper echelon of the NHL pyramid. However can Tortorella , or better is Tortorella the guy to climb that pyramid?  That question needs to be answered and I believe the answer will come fast. Very fast.