Grand Finale

The Rangers finished the regular season with a flourish, if you can call a three game winning streak a flourish. They accomplished quite a few things in their 4-3 win Sunday. Things they have to accomplish if they want to beat the Caps. They won on the road. They won a game they were losing after two periods. They outscored their opponent, 2-0, in the third period. Dubinsky scored the first short handed goal against the Flyers this year. Dubinsky also scored a power play goal and it was the first time this year that he scored two goals in a a game. Oh, did I mention that the Rangers win knocked the Flyers out of fourth place and home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. It also gave the Rangers the season series over the Flyers. All in all a great tuneup for the big show, the playoffs.

John Tortorella's Rangers will be playing the Caps for the first time this year. Washington has not played the Tortorella coached Rangers and it will be a different game from the four regular season games. The Rangers tentative, defensive game is a thing of the past and it remains to be seen if the new uptempo attack game can change the tone and the mind set of the Rangers. It will be different and hopefully so will the outcome.

Lundqvist is on top of his game. Gomez and Drury have stepped up in leadership roles and the dynamic duo of Marc Staal and Dan Girardi are establishing themselves as two of the steadiest defensemen in the NHL. The additions of Antropov, Morris and Avery have added toughness and scoring to the team. Will it be enough to slow and stop the Ovechkin Express? Only time will tell, but the seeds are there for a first round upset.

Let's Go Rangers!

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