Holy crap!

I did not expect to be writing at 10:30 pm tonight. But oh my gosh, I can't believe how happy I am. The New York Rangers have defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals and are in the NHL Final 4. They will play either Boston or Montreal in the conference finals. I can't believe it!

All season long, two teams stood out in the Eastern Conference, Boston and Pittsburgh. The Rangers needed seven games to eliminate a formidable Philadelphia squad. Going agasint Pittsurgh, I knew it would be a challenge. But Pittsburgh needed six tight games to dispose of the upstart Columbus Blue Jackets. Plus, the Penguins had a lost a lot of Game 7's in their building. They seemed mentally fragile and ready to lose.

Then Pittsburgh won three of the series' first four games. I was convinced the Rangers were done. Their best defenseman, Ryan McDonagh, looked slow and injured. Rick Nash, their star forward, hadn't scored a goal in the first 11 playoff games. Goaltender Henrik Lundqvit had been good, but not great. Not the level we as Rangers fan expect. Even worse, the MSG crowd in Game 4 was disinterested, defeated, and quiet. They were all but finished.

Then Martin St. Louis' mom passed away unexpectedly. It happened just a couple of days before Mother's Day. St. Louis had only been a Ranger for six weeks, having come over from Tampa Bay in the controversial trade for captain Ryan Callahan. But St. Louis' new teammates rallied around him. They won Game 5 in Pittsburgh decisively, by a 5-1 final. Derick Barassard scored twice and Mats Zuccarello had three assists. And then Game 6 was on Mother's Day in the Garden. When St. Louis scored three minutes in, it just felt meant to be. The Rangers held on to win that one 3-1, forcing a decisive Game 7 in Pittsburgh tonight.

I felt pretty good going into tonight. I knew I'd have the butterflies in my stomach. But the Penguins have a had a knack for losing Game 7's at home. They have a classic glass jaw. As much as talent as they have, they also tend to fold when the going gets difficult. They outplayed the Rangers for the first half of the game, in my opinion. They hit the Rangers hard, they had twice as many shots on goals, they won twice as many faceoffs. But Brian Boyle, who many Rangers fans have never opened up to, scored five minutes into the game off a great pass from Dominic Moore. When they scored that pivotal first goal, I felt really good. Each time in this series, the team that has scored the first goal has won. Throughtout the rest of the first period, the Penguins were pouring a ton of pressure on and Henrik Lundqvist had to make some spectacular saves. Then Jussi Jokinen scored four minutes into the second period to tie the score. Just two minutes later though, Matt Niskanen tripped Brassard, putting the Blueshirts on the power play. Ah yes, the power play, which went 0-for-36 at one stretch during the playoffs. But St. Louis dropped a backhand pass from the left sid eof the goal line into the slot where Brad Richards slammed it past Marc-Andre Fleury. The Rangers had a 2-1 lead.

What else can I say about the third period. Lundqvist sometimes goes into these stretches where he stands on his head and you just know he is not going to be beaten. I felt he was in that kind of stretch during the whole third period. Even facing a team with elite players like Kris Letang, James Neal, Chris Kunitz, Evgeny Malkin, and the almighty Sidney Crosby, I knew Henrik was going to come through. And he did just that. He faced 36 Pittsburgh shots, and stopped 35. He made an amazing stop on Neal who was all alone in front with 5:26 left. Right after that, he stopped Paul Martin's backhand attempt. He was on his way to becoming the first goalie in NHL history to win five consecutive Game 7's. The time continued to tick down. When the buzzer hit 00.0, I jumped in the air and screamed for at least a minute! "YES!" "WE'RE GOING TO THE CONFERENCE FINALS!"

Rick Nash and Derek Stepan did not score a goal in this series. The Rangers scored 17 goals in 7 games, not an impressive number. Yet, they eliminated a team that scored the second-most goals in the conference during the regular season. They eliminated the team that they had never beaten in a playoff series in four previous attempts. Now they get to watch Boston and Montreal play Game 7 on Wednesday night. Hopefully, that game will go about five overtimes.

I don't know what's going to happen going forward. But if the Rangers and Blackhawks play each other in the Stanley Cup Finals, I may have to move away. But for tonight, I'm going to enjoy this win. Let's Go Rangers!!!