2022-23 New York Rangers: A Monumental Letdown By Hank Indictor

First and foremost, I just want to say congratulations to the New Jersey Devils for winning their first playoff series in a full decade. As I am writing this, I am eating a full plate of crow/humble pie because of how confident I was in my beloved New York Rangers' chances. However, if you’ve followed this team like I have and have spent tons of time, money and energy into this team the way that I have, and paid attention to what they did to make themselves better, then you can understand why.

And you know what? For all the trash talk I may have spewed, I’d like to think I’m also mature, and therefore I am willing to admit that the better team won. And in the end, the Devils simply wanted more. This is a strong young core that is only going to get better and more dangerous for years to come, and we saw what they were capable of doing and how they bounced back from adversity after getting boat raced in the first two games.

However, with that being said, I am feeling a combination of anger and sadness after what I saw from the New York Rangers. I thought that Henrique's goal in 2012 was a stinger. But, oh no. This series was 20 times worse! And forget the fact that this happened against my least favorite team of the trinity of evil, this might’ve been even worse than the 2015 Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Lightning!

Now granted, I don't know if I’ll go as far as saying that this was worse than the 2004 ALCS, but the vibes are there. This was not only an epic collapse, but this marks a colossal missed opportunity and one of many what-ifs in the not-so-glorious near century-long history of the New York Rangers (trust me I could make a whole Top 10 list of these in and of itself). How did this happen?! MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!!!

Imagine invading enemy territory to witness two consecutive blowout victories to start the series. Surely you have to like your chances. And with the next two games being on home ice, it seems as if it's in the bag...until you remember that this is the Rangers and nothing ever comes easily. If you want to look at the turning point of this series, then look no further than the overtime loss in Game 3. Seeing that Vitek Vanecek had become as porous as Swiss Cheese, Devils Coach Lindy Ruff opted to turn to a young goalie with only 24 games of NHL Experience in Akira Schmid. Right then and there, we knew, or at least we should’ve known, that this was a bad omen. If you're a die-hard Rangers fan, you know that there have been many instances where they make backup goalies appear to be the second coming of Terry Sawchuck, Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy. But when Chris Kreider scored his 5th goal of the series, it appeared as if the series was theirs.

Unfortunately, controversy ensued when Timo Meier barreled over Igor and barreled over him as if he was trying to pull a Pete Rose. Igor, in an attempt to defend himself, threw hands, and yet HE GOT CALLED FOR THE PENALTY!!!!! I’M SORRY WHAT?!?!?! This powerplay led to the game-tying Devils' goal from Jack Hughes. However, if I'm being honest, as bad as this call was, the refs weren’t at fault for the litany of turnovers, nor were they at fault for the Rangers' 0-5 Power Failure. And the sloppiness and missed opportunities caught up to them when Dougie Hamilton scored the game-winner in Overtime. You could also argue that the moment the Rangers had lost the series was after a missed goal early in Game 4 that led to a Jack Hughes breakaway goal. All the Rangers have to do is make adjustments and they're in good shape, but they looked flat from there on out and it showed.

Aside from a 5-goal outburst in Game 6, the Rangers scored only 1 goal in the three other losses and practically left Igor out to dry. To blame Gerard Gallant for this series loss is understandable because he's had a habit of being stubborn and failing to capitalize when teams figure out his successful tactics. However, if you're going to blame him, then the players deserve just as much of the blame as he does. I mean, dear lord, where in the world was Artemi Panarin?! No goals, only 2 points and a +/- of -2 from a guy who gets paid $11.5 million. UNACCEPTABLE! For Pete’s sake, he's turned into Rick Nash!!

Mika Zibanejad was marginally better with only one goal, 4 points and a -1. Patrick Kane didn't look like he was healthy and now we're seeing why Drury didn’t have to give up too many picks to get him. Although Chris Kreider was the star performer in Games 1 and 2, he only scored 1 goal after that game. The Kid Line? Practically nonexistent! Poor Igor, the man just kept getting hung out to dry. Such a damn shame.

The bottom line, this was about as bad of a collapse as it gets. Ohm but don’t you worry it gets worse! Chris Drury is going to be dealing with every single GM's arch nemesis: the dreaded Salary Cap. Those superstars acquired in Tarasenko and Kane? One or both of them will probably be gone. And then there are other free agents such as Ryan Lindgren and K’Andre Miller whose status is up in the air. At least he can probably re-sign Alexis Lafreniere to a bridge deal, but the fact of the matter is this team could look somewhat different next season. And not to mention a win would have given the Rangers a much easier path than anticipated because of the Bruins' epic fail and the Hurricanes' injury woes. In other words, this series was a wasted opportunity.

Could this have been their best shot at a title? Only time will tell. There's no doubt that the offseason will be a long one, and some hard decisions will be made. The window might not necessarily be over, but roster-wise this was the best Rangers team of my lifetime, one that probably would have ranked up at the top as my all-time favorite had they finished the job.

However, other than many of the fun personal memories I made going to so many games, all I’m going to remember this team for is their colossal failure to win a Cup after building what looked to be a super team. And it may only get worse if the Devils somehow manage to pull off something that didn't seem remotely possible at the start of the season.

Oh, what I would give just to see one Cup in my lifetime.