Rangers Win Series 4-1

On to the second round baby!!! As the Rangers await to see who they play in round 2, let me just say, bring them on. I was at game 5, and the atmosphere was indescribable. From the drop of the puck, that place was rocking. It felt good to see the New York and New Jersey rivalry back to form.

When I walked into the arena, it was outstanding to look around to see die-hard blueshirts such as myself. I would have to say the arena was filled with 60% Devils fans and 40% Ranger fans. Before the puck dropped, there was Lets Go Devils chants, followed by Lets Go Rangers chants, and vice versa.

The Devils came out quick and scored the first goal. The Devil fans erupted, with cheers of profanity I can not say, followed by heckling the Rangers goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist. It was short lived. 20 seconds after the Devils scored, the Rangers struck back tying the game at 1. The Devils announcer hadn't even announced the Rangers goal yet. The Ranger fans went nuts, including myself went crazy. Then the fans started to chant "Marty, Marty!", heckling Devils goaltender, Matin Brodeur. The chants would only get louder, as the Rangers scored two more goals to go up 3-1. After the first, the Ranger fans were insane and the Devils fans were silent.

The second period started out with more of the same, as Chris Drury scored to put the Rangers up 4-1. At this point, it looked like smooth sailing. The Devils finally caught a break in the second. The luck would come from a shot from Bryce Salvador. The Devils defensemen, took a slap shot from center ice to dump the puck in. The shot hit Rangers foward Brandon Dubinsky in the glove, hit the ice, hit the post, and then hit Lundqvist's back and went in. After that, the Devils would score on a 5 on 3 powerplay to make the game 4-3 heading into the third. Another bad break for the Rangers, as the puck went in off defensemen Fedor Tyutin. None the less, the were down 3 goals, but entered the third trailing by 1.

The Devils fans were back and chanting to start the 3rd. However, the could not silence the chants of "Let's Go Rangers!!!" and "Henrik!" from the Ranger fans. The Devils were playing with desperation, throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the Rangers. The Rangers stood tall though, weathering every storm. Then a mistake by the Rangers, led to a penalty shot for the Devils. John Madden was tripped on a breakaway by Rangers defensemen, Dan Girardi with 7:08 seconds left. Madden went backhand on Lundqvist who stopped him cold. The Ranger crowd chanted "Henrik!" until it felt the very foundation of the building was coming down. The Rangers held on to win, as Brandon Dubinsky netted an empty netter to put the game out of reach. The Rangers won the game and the series.

Afterwards the traditional NHL post series handshake took place. Of course, there was drama. Martin Brodeur shook every players hand, except for 1. Sean Avery extended his hand to Brodeur, who just skated away. Avery would later say this about Brodeur," "Everyone talks about how much class I don't have, well it's the end of the series and men go to war against each other," Avery said. "I guess he forgot to shake my hand. I don't know if anyone saw that. Of course I was going to shake his hand." (http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=280418011). Nothing like adding a little more fuel to the fire for next year. I personally would have called him a VQUZESHUF.

Well the Rangers are now waiting for an opponent in Round 2. Nothing feels better than taking out your arch-rivals in their arena. All I can say is bring them on, and as always, LETS GO RANGERSSSSS!!!!!!!

Article used for reference: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=280418011 from ESPN.com