New York Rangers Clinch Playoff Berth

By Djack

The Rangers by all accounts exceeded expectations this season. Yes, they had some lulls throughout the season and yes they have serious question marks heading into the postseason, but sometimes you just gotta step back and appreciate what you have. This will be the seventh straight season of Ranger postseason hockey, that's something to be extremely proud of if you're a fan. It hasn't lead to any hardware yet, although the first step is getting in, and then as all of you know, once you're in anything can happen in the Stanley Cup playoffs. 

The Rangers are actually in the quintessential spot in terms of playoff seeding. The Rangers have the top wildcard spot, this means instead of having to play either the Penguins or Capitals in first round, they'll play the Canadians or Senators. A much easier opening round matchup to say the least. The Metropolitan division clearly had the cream of the crop in terms of the talented teams this year. For instance, if the Rangers played in the Atlantic division they'd be the top team, but instead they're a wildcard team because they play in the division of death. Now, they can watch those teams murder each other while the Rangers get to matchup against the weaker teams.

The Rangers playoff success I truly believe relies on two things, can the Rangers play well in front of Hank defensively, and can Hank play up to level we all know he's capable of. If Henrik Lundqvist plays like he did a month ago allowing goal after goal the Rangers will be done in the first round. If he can play like he has in the past playoff series where he's King Henrik and makes everyone his bitch, the Rangers will be in great shape going forward. The defense is an essential part of the success formula as well though. If they can't disrupt the offense and stop the other team's offense from getting easy, clear, and open shots then Hank will have no shot to play good regardless. The Rangers can easily make a deep run this postseason, I mean we've seen them do it with less talented teams. Hank however was at the top of his game back then. I truly believe it all comes down to him, if he wants to cement the legacy he deserves he needs to get it done for the Rangers this year.