Playoff Prescription: Round 1 Rangers vs. Senators Game 7

The entire season for the New York Rangers can be summed up by their play tonight.

The Rangers can come out and win, and still make something happen with all of their success in the regular season, or they could come out flat and let the Sens walk all over them and this is a choke or a season. Which will we see?

As a fan, I am nervous, but I'm trying to keep positive. We've already seen the Presidents Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks get bounced early by the Los Angeles Kings earlier this week, which truly goes to show that seeding is just a number. Any team can make it happen on any given night, which is why there have been so many upsets so far in these playoffs. Teams are not going hard when they need to, and in turn, they are dropping some key games. Let us hope that the example set by the eliminated teams already has sunk into the Rangers lineup.



In Game 6, the Rangers looked like they did in Game 1: confident, loose, and crisp. Crisp in their execution when given a good look at the goal, confident in their resilience when Ottawa scored the first goal, and loose in their ability to not get rattled by anything extra that happened throughout play. Now, in a game where losing is not an option, the Rangers need these elements along with the fire to compete to push them to victory.

The Rangers need to realize, this could be it for them if they make too many mistakes tonight. The entire season of work, each of those 109 points all comes as close to the wire as possible tonight. The window is open, who's going to be the Ranger who leads them through it?

Keys To Victory


Execution: No opportunity goes lost. Every shot needs to be shot, every hit needs to be thrown, every stick, body, and pad needs to be in position to win tonight. The Rangers have given up softies all series, and it is time for vindication for all of those doubts that may have swirled about this team in this series. They have proven they can execute, and now it is time to convince all of the doubters of this team with excellent play tonight.

No One Person Gets Held Accountable: If this team of Rangers can play as a team, and support each other throughout, they can win tonight. No individual efforts take center ice tonight, for this needs to be a whole team effort in order to beat the Senators tonight. And if this team fails, they fail as a team.

No prediction tonight, for I do not want to be that schmuck who pick the Rangers to win every night. Instead, I'm going to just support my team, in victory and defeat. That's all we can do as fans.

Enjoy the game!