from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,
There can be no illusions under the debris of this series in which the Blueshirts were outscored 21-10, and 11-4 over the final two games, both of which Henrik Lundqvist finished on the bench after being pulled, and in both of which the abysmal defensive zone play that pockmarked the season from beginning to end surfaced time and time again.
“We made it hard on ourselves all series,” said Rick Nash, whose two goals tied Derek Stepan for the club lead. “So many turnovers … we struggled with our defensive game throughout the season.
“That hadn’t been the case at all in my first three years here.”
The time is gone for this core of Rangers, perhaps finally exhausted by the toll of playing 44 postseason games the past two years and 76 over the previous four springs. The time is gone without a championship for this band, just as it was gone for those old Knicks, and just as it was gone a generation or two ago for those fondly remembered Emile Francis teams that featured Eddie Giacomin, Rod Gilbert, Jean Ratelle and Brad Park and the gang.
The Blueshirts never quite had it this year; never were as imposing as in either of Alain Vigneault’s first two seasons behind the bench. As this series devolved into a fiasco, the Rangers grew old overnight and became slow, quickly.
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