See ya next season Rangers!

Next team to get eliminated in the NHL playoffs was the New York Rangers.  Let’s take a look at their season.  They were 8^th in their conference and 3^rd in their division.  They ended up with 44-33-5 with 93 points.  The power play was a 16.9% ranking them 18^th in the league while their penalty kill was 83.7% ranking them 10^th in the league. 

The Rangers won their last game of the season, but had to wait for results of the Lightning/Hurricane game later on that night.  The Lightning did win the game which secured the Rangers for an 8^th spot in conference to move onto the post-season. 

Top leaders in each category for the 2010-2011 season

Goals- 24 Brandon Dubinsky

Assists- 30 Brandon Dubinsky

Points-  54 Brandon Dubinsky

+/- +20 Michael Sauer -7 Ryan Callahan

PIM- 174 Sean Avery

S%-  14.9% Brandon Purst

FO%- 52.5% Brandon Dubinsky

Hits- 240 Brian Boyle

Blocked Shots- 236 Dan Girardi

Giveaways- 51 Dan Girardi

Takeaways- 54 Marc Staal

Shutouts-11

Here is a few interesting things that happen this year for the Rangers.  Derek Stephan had his first NHL career hat trick in his first NHL game (Oct 9^th 2010).  He is the 4^th player in NHL history to do that.  On March 18^th, 2011....Henrik Lundqvist became the first goalie in NHL history to record 30 wins or more in every season (6) he has played so far.

So here’s a look back at their series with the Washington Capitals.

Game 1

Caps win 2-1 in OT

There was no score until the 3^rd period.  Gilroy scored early in the period and Ovechkin scored late in the period which made it go into overtime.  Semin was able to score 18:24 in OT to secure the Caps a win.

-Caps outshot the Rangers 33-25

Game 2

Caps win 2-0

Chimera and Arnott scored 1:57 apart early in the 2^nd period to give them the win for the game.  Neuvirth got the shutout for the game. 

-Caps gaveaway 8 while Rangers had 0

-Caps blocked 21 shots while Rangers only blocked 15

Game 3

Rangers win 3-2

The score was tied 2-2 but Dubinsky scored just 1:39 left into the game to give the Rangers their first victory in the series. 

-Rangers were only 1-for-7 on their power play (WOW!)

-Rangers outshot the Caps 35-25

-Rangers outhit the Caps 41-29

Game 4

Caps win 4-3 in 2^nd OT

Rangers scored all their goals in the 2^nd period while the Caps scored all their goals in the 3^rd to tie the game up and go into overtime.  Chimera scored 12:36 into the second overtime for the Capitals to win the game.

-Caps were 0-for-4 on their power play while Rangers were 0-for-7 (WOW! Again)

-Caps outshot the Rangers 53-39

-Rangers outhit 69-51...(Boyle for NYR lead with 10)

Game 5

Caps win 3-1

The Caps were up 3-0 before the Rangers scored a goal 32 seconds left in the game.  A little too late for New York.  Caps win the series 4-1

-Marc Staal with 6 blocked shots for the game

-Rangers were 0-for-2  and Caps were 1-for-4

Overall, the Rangers had a crazy season.  They were fortunate to make the playoffs...just wasn’t able to capitalize.  My suggestions....get some more offensive players and work on your power play.  Twice you were given 7 opportunities and you only scored once out of that.  You guys need some work to do!  See ya next season!  GO RANGERS!

P.S.  Once again stats can be found on NHL.com or New York Rangers website.