Ho hum. Another near perfect game from the Devils. 3-0, Marty gets the shutout, Rangers are innefective. Same ol’ same ol’ ;)
Let’s start with ESPN:
The Ranger fans came to Madison Square Garden to party on Wednesday. They were coming for their team’s first home playoff game since 1997. And, they came with a feeling that their team would find themselves on home ice and put an end to their ill-timed seven-game losing streak.
The local hero — rookie goalie Henrik Lundqvist — was back in the crease. Rangers head coach Tom Renney quickly went back to his Swedish stopper after sitting him for Game 2.
And their superstar — MVP candidate Jaromir Jagr — was back in the lineup. Jagr declared himself healthy enough to play after taking a pregame twirl around the Garden ice. The home crowd roared with delight when Jagr’s name wasn’t announced as one of the scratches.
Surely, they figured, this was their night.
Unfortunately, somebody invited the New Jersey Devils to this Garden party. The experienced visitors from across the river responded to the hoopla with a near-perfect road game en route to a 3-0 win at a very deflated MSG.
Yup. I’m sure the Rangers fans enjoyed the Devils fans whistle melody followed by “RANGERS SUCK!” Heh.
On to CBS Sportsline
After each of the first two defeats, in which they were outscored 10-2, the Rangers spoke of their strong play while skating 5-on-5 and insisted they could win if they could stay at even strength.
New Jersey needed four shots to poke holes in that theory.
This picture says a thousand words:
How bout them Bruins?
Ouch! When they traded Thornton, that signified give up mode, unfortunately.