1-0!!!

The Rangers defeated the heavily favored Washington lowercases to take 1-0 lead in this best of 7 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series. Going into this series, I was one of maybe 20 people who thought the Rangers could defeat that high octane Washington offense. My father, my uncle, and many other thought I needed medication to get my brain back on track again. Well tonight, they silenced our nation's capital and all the critics indeed. Now I still think winning this series will be a tremendous struggle. I know a lot of things have to break just right and tonight, they did:

1) Wash goalie Jose Theodore has to play down to his billing. He is not very good, clearly inferior to Henrik Lundqvist and the King must steal at least two games in this series. If the Rangers cannot score more than two goals a game, they will not make it to a Game 6. That's exactly what happened tonight. The Rangers were outshot 35-21 and the puck must have been in the Rangers' end of the ice at least 40 of 60 minutes. But Henrik made great save after great save and Theodore let in four goals that all could have possibly been stopped.

2) Alexander Ovechkin is clearly the best player in the world. The stats sheet said he played 26 minutes, it felt like 40. Mike Green is the best offensive defenseman in hockey. He scored 31 goals this season, more than any Ranger and more than all Ranger defensemen combined! Throw in Nick Backstrom, Viktor Kozlov, Brooks Laich, Michael Nylander, and Alexander Semin; they are loaded. That is the #2 power play in hockey. The Rangers PK is #1. And the Rangers PP has been putrid all season. So the special teams are huge. Now tonight, Washington went 2 for 7, which is ok. But the Rangers went 2 for 4 and those PP goals made the difference. The thing is even on 5 on 5, Washington controlled the play far more often than the Rangers. So it is vital for the Rangers to avoid unnecessary penalties.

3) Some Ranger must emerge as a prime time performer. Captain Chris Drury has been that, but he is injured worse than expected and missed tonight's game. The fact that the Rangers won without him amazes me. All day long, I was very confident the Rangers could win tonight. I was rubbing my Henrik bracelet, taking co-workers down with knee-on-knee hits. Five minutes before game time, I found out Drury skated in warm-ups and decided he could not play and the immortal Aaron Voros would suit up instead. I felt deflated. But Ryan Callahan hustled and hit hard just like he has all season, Wade Redden actually played steady defense, and Scott Gomez scored three points. With Drury out, Gomez really stepped up.

A few other things.

1) I don't expect the Rangers to win Game 2 on Saturday. After the Caps lost in the first round last year and with them dropping the first game at home, they know what they need to do. I know this is against the way they have played all season, but they need to tighten up on defense, protect Theodore, and not focus on offense as much. They really don't need to focus on offense; they have enough talent. They will probably win Game 2 by a score of 4-1. I do wonder if Caps coach Bruce Boudreau (a huge wresting fan by the way) will play Theodore all series or if he will have to insert Simeon Varlamov, a guy I have never heard of.

2) Chris Drury has to play for the Rangers to win this series. He is the key to their PP and plays his best in the playoffs. His teammates need his leadership. and he needs to accept the responsibility of leading them as well.

3) If Nik Zherdev, a restricted free agent who I have defended all year, cannot produce in this series, he cannot come back next season. The Rangers should let him go and focus on signing Blair Betts, Ryan Callahan, and Nik Antropov.

4) Markus Naslund just took another penalty in the offensive zone.

5) Steve Somers should have four hours postgame shows after each Rangers playoff game!