Despite a terrific display against the Washington Capitals in round one of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the New York Rangers are headed home after a short series against the Boston Bruins. Here are the reasons why the Rangers will have to wait another year for a chance at Lord Stanley's Cup.
No Star Power
Brad Richards and Rick Nash are the team's most expensive players. In 12 playoffs games, the two combined for two goals; Boston's rookie defenseman Tony Krug scored twice as many goals in less than half as many postseason games. Richards scored against Washington while Nash scored his lone tally in Game 2 against Boston. By the end of the Boston series, Richards was on the bench as Nash continued to struggle. The two combined for six points, one more than Krug has in five games for the Bruins.
Lundqvist Falters
Speaking of stars fading, no one looked more out of sorts than Rangers franchise keeper Henrik Lundqvist. The goaltender conceded 15 goals in the five games despite stopping 91.8 percent of the attempts he faced. He looked a bit weary in Games 3 and 5 and seemed to favor his shoulder late in the series. It is unknown whether he was battling an injury in the series, but "The King" was not always in top form when the Rangers needed him to be. He was outplayed by Bruins goalie Tuuka Rask in a battle where he was the runaway favorite.
Special Teams
The Rangers lost the special teams battle in every possible way. They failed to score on the power play in the first three games of the series despite have 10 chances; Boston scored once on five chances in the first three games. In Game 4, the Rangers scored on one of their four tries; the Bruins scored on two of their four attempts. In Game 5, the Rangers capitalized on one of two power plays but could not prevent Boston from tallying a goal on one of their three man-advantages. New York finished with two goals on 16 power play attempts while the Bruins capitalized on four of 12.
Lack of Depth
While Nash and Richards continued to weight down the Rangers' depth, the Bruin's fourth line of Daniel Paille, Shawn Thornton, and Gregory Campbell was scoring big goals for Bruins. The Rangers may have limited the Bruin's top line throughout the series, but their lack of depth was unable to compete with Boston's other three lines.
John Tortorella
Coaches can often be blamed for misguided personnel choices or for failing to create favorable matchups for their clubs. Tortorella got outcoached by Boston's Claude Julien in this series, but his blame for the loss goes deeper. Tortorella created distractions in the media by singling out his players. He said Carl Hagelin's play on the man-advantage was poor and even benched Richards without a valid excuse. When further questioned, he gave an aggressive answer to the press that bordered on rude. Many feel that his candid comments about his players may have created a battle in the locker room that was present on the ice where the team lacked focus and effort for long stretches.
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