Last night the Rangers lost to the Lighting in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals 2-0. A shut out after delivering a 7-3 beating in game 6. Such an unjust end, I’m still annoyed almost 24 hours later. I can’t even bring myself to look up a picture as a header for this post.
The better team did win. This series made no sense at all as it oscillated back and forth every single game. Close calls and blow outs every other game. Game 7 turned out to be game 5 almost exactly, which is just infuriating. Nothing worked for the Rangers (I think injuries and exhaustion finally caught up with them like in 2012), it was so hard to watch. Tampa locked down their defense, the Rangers too slow on the uptake and when a mistake happened, Tampa was all over it. Rangers struggled with Power Plays all season and it’s partially what did them in. Zooks getting hurt 2 months ago along with Nash and MStL going cold in the playoffs really cut off options. I thought for sure they’d get at least back to back Conference wins heading into the playoffs.
It’s a big chunk of disappointment after an amazing run. Best season in franchise history, and three rounds of exciting playoffs. Â Looking back at it, I’ve watched just about every Ranger game in the last 6 months with the real chance of winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in 21 years. Now part of the disappointment is not having a game to look forward to watching. Tampa will play either the Ducks or Blackhawks (that will be decided tonight, Blackhawks rallying to push a game 7) but without a pony in the race I find it hard to care much.
I’d like to see the hockey season be cut by about 2 weeks or so. The Cup should be awarded in the middle of May, it’s just too much of an endurance race with 82 regular season games. Not to mention hockey in the summer is weird. Everyone is beat to hell and exhausted, championships shouldn’t be decided on players being held together with athletic tape and running on fumes.
Now all that’s left on is baseball. I’m not into watching grass grow so I’ll just hang up my jersey and bullhorn until the 2015-2016 NHL season in October. We’ll get ’em next year.