Rangers Are Toast

The Rangers were a dangerous team heading into the playoffs.  Star goalie, Rick Nash's supposed Broadway playoff hunger, depth, last year's experience of losing in the conference finals, the magic of Madison Square Garden.  Oops.

The Rangers are done.  Toast.  Put a fork in them.  Have a nice day.  Good luck on the first tee next week, Blueshirts.  Boston has a 3-0 lead, and they won't give it up to New York.  This year's Rangers aren't the 2010 Flyers.

This Ranger team isn't ready to win.  One reason is they don't have the front line and power-play scoring.  Brad Richards is so bad that he cannot even get 10 minutes of ice time.  Nash was great in Game 2 and scored, but where is that every game presence?  The "Ryan Callahan does so many things not in the box score" thing is getting old.  How about score a goal?  Derek Stepan?  He is a here and there guy.  Captains and star players score in big spots.  See the following:  Sidney Crosby, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Dustin Brown or the collective Bruins who all share the spotlight equally on the same team.  The Rangers' front line guys are coming up short.

The other reason is, despite their physical play, the Rangers aren't the Bruins.  The Bruins are winning all the important battles.  Ranger fans may say it is just about bounces in this series, but the reality in hockey this time of year is you get more bounces when you win battles, control the puck, control the body and create another shot or opportunity.  The Bruins do that to perfection.  The Rangers don't even do it well.

Another year wasted with Henrik Lundqvist in his prime.  The Rangers better figure this thing out and soon just for that reason alone.

By:  Mike Lindsley, "Mid-Day with Mike," 1-4, Yankees pre/post game host on 104.5 The Team ESPN Radio.  Follow him on Twitter @MikeLSports.