Game 4 Thriller Goes To The Rangers

When my time comes and I shall pass on I am thinking my death certificate will list cause of death "Watching Ranger Playoff Hockey."

And so that pretty much sums up game 4 at Madison Square Garden. We Ranger fans pine for a 2 goal lead in games, such is the system they play. On this night the Rangers twice had that 2 goal lead.

New York jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Brad Richards scored in the 1st period. Carl Hagelin's goal made it 2-0 midway through the 2nd stanza. But you just knew the Caps would be heard from, and they were.

Mathieu Perreault and Troy Brouwer evened the game at 2 before the period ended. In fact Brouwer's goal came with just 18 seconds left in the period. The flustered Rangers actually gave up another great chance before the period ended, however it led to a Cap penalty for hitting the goalie. It proved costly for Washington.

The Rangers made the Caps foolishness costly when Dan Girardi fired a laser beam from the point top put the Rangers up 4-2 before 1 minute ticked off the 3rd period clock.

Then  Derek Stepan scored his 2nd of the series at 6:02 and just like that the 2 goal bulge was restored.

You know what's coming next. It didn't last. That 2 goal lead I mean. Karl Azner scored only a minute and 19 seconds after Stepan and it was fasten your seat belt time at the Garden.

The Caps mounted tremendous pressure on Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Washington's Joel Ward missed scoring the tying goal by less then an inch when his shot squirted through Lundqvist and scraped the pipe before going wide. The Rangers finally were able to mount some pressure of their own forcing Cap net minder Braden Holtby to make some big saves to keep the Caps within 1.

The game came right down to the end because the Rangers couldn't get a puck at the Caps empty net after they pulled Holtby in the final minute. The Rangers held on again for their 2nd straight 4-3 win at MSG. This eastern conference quarterfinal is now locked at 2 as both teams head to Washington for game 5 Friday night