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Your move, Carolina: Rangers pound Devils 5-2, force Carolina to win their way into playoffs

New Jersey Devils v New York Rangers

at Madison Square Garden on April 9, 2011 in New York City.

Bruce Bennett

Call it guts, call it manning up when needed, call it the comeback of Chris Drury if you want to but either way the Rangers did what they had to do today. New York’s 5-2 win over New Jersey gave them a shot at making the playoffs and now they’ll have to sweat out tonight’s game between Tampa Bay and Carolina from Raleigh to see if they can make the postseason.

The Rangers didn’t start off today’s game on the right foot getting down just over two minutes into the game when Nick Palmieri tipped home an Ilya Kovalchuk shot to give New Jersey an early 1-0 lead. Moments later, however, the Rangers would get the spark they were looking for out of captain Chris Drury. Drury put home a beautiful backhand goal after a great feed from Erik Christensen to tie the game at one. Drury made his comeback today after being out since February 3 with a knee injury.

The first period would end with the Devils leading 2-1, however, as Ilya Kovalchuk beat Henrik Lundqvist with a shot with 42 seconds left to play. It would be the last tally the Devils would get on the game however as the Rangers blew the game open in the second. Wojtek Wolski, Ryan McDonagh, and Brandon Prust each netted goals in the second while Vinny Prospal added one in the third to provide the 5-2 final score. For McDonagh, it was his first NHL goal and for Wolski it was his first goal since February 22. If you needed a definition of a “character effort” this game was it for the Rangers.

Henrik Lundqvist finished the game with 24 saves and closed out his regular season with 36 wins. If the Rangers make the playoffs, the Capitals will have their hands full in dealing with King Henrik and his 11 shutouts this season. He’s more than capable of carrying the team and if the Rangers got hot in the postseason he makes for an imposing figure.

They have to get there first though and that means getting a win from Tampa Bay, Rangers coach John Tortorella’s old team, tonight against the Hurricanes. If Carolina pulls off the win, they’re in the playoffs and for the first time ever there won’t be a New York City-area team in the playoffs. Ever since the Devils moved to New Jersey in 1982, one of the Islanders, Rangers, or Devils have made the playoffs to represent the Big Apple in one way or another.

It makes for quite the altered perspective for old time fans as you’d have teams from Nashville, Tampa Bay, North Carolina, Phoenix, and three from California in the playoffs and just two Canadian teams and none from New York in the playoffs. Let that sink in a little bit the next time you pile on about how the non-traditional hockey markets stink.

No pressure though Carolina, the task is simple: Win and you’re in.