Henrik Reigns Supreme

With the chant of "We want the Cup" ringing out in the Garden the Rangers advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals against their blood rivals, the New Jersey Devils. It was another one goal game, 2-1. It will be the Rangers first Conference final since 1997 when the Rangers lost to the Flyers four games to one. The Rangers and the Devils have met five times in the playoffs with the Rangers holding a 4-1 edge.

Richards and Del Zotto were the goal scorers. Del Zotto may have gotten away with a trip on Ovechkin and sped up the ice and iced the win by putting one past Holtby, who was great, and made 29 saves. The Rangers out hit the Caps 33-27 with Del Zotto leading the hit parade with 8. John Mitchell, with only 6:32 of ice time had 4 hits as did Derek Stepan who got 19:50 of ice time. Chris Kreider with 13:07 had 3 shots on goal. So the kids got meaningful ice time.

Lundqvist,  made 22 saves, and saved the game with a series of saves, as the Caps unloaded a barrage in the second period and Henrik stood tall. On a five on five the Caps had the puck for over two minutes firing shots from all angles. He has a 1.68 GAA in the playoffs. Lundqvist is on a mission and he was aided and abetted by that 'old reliable', the Garden Faithful. The fans were in playoff 'do or die' mode and never let up for a second. So far the Rangers are doing this the hard way carrying each series to seven games. The Rangers will have a big advantage in any more seventh game because the Garden Faithful will be there.They may be the first team in history to play 28 games to win the Stanley Cup.

So it's the Rangers vs the Devils. Stirs up memories of the Mark Messier guarantee and his memorable hat trick. It recalls the famous "Matteau, Matteau, Matteau." Sean Avery harassing and agitating Marty Brodeur, which culminated in the Sean Avery Rule and Brodeur refusing to shake hands with Avery. This series promises to stir up some new memories and some new heroes. However, remember the Rangers have Henrik Lundqvist, The King, and right now he reigns supreme.

ICINGS: I was never a fan of Dale Hunter, but he was a class act after the game going through the line and shaking every Ranger's hand. In fact the hand shaking at the end of the game was the friendliest I have ever seen. The players actually seemed to like each other. This won't happen at the end of the Devil series.

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