Fedorov’s winner sends Lundqvist, Rangers home

April 28, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

An old playoff goat came through. Sergei Fedorov scored with 4:59 left in regulation to lead the Capitals past the Rangers 2-1 in the deciding Game Seven, completing the franchise’s first ever comeback from a 3-1 series deficit to advance to their first Eastern Conference Semis in 11 years. They’ll next meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in the dream network match-up NBC wanted.

It also became the wrong kind of playoff history for the Rangers, who for the first time in franchise history blew a 3-1 lead. They were unable to closeout a very formidable opponent who took the lesson they learned last year to complete the comeback.

Unlike Games 5 and 6 in which they were totally outclassed, the lower seeded Rangers came to play giving probably their best effort of the series. With John Tortorella back behind the bench from serving his one-game suspension, the club was ready from the drop of the puck. They skated well sustaining the best forecheck all series while paying close attention to detail. Surprisingly, it was the host Caps who came out very shaky fortunate not to fall behind by two or three goals.

They can thank series rookie hero Simeon Varlamov, who was razor sharp less than two minutes in stopping the Rangers’ best player Sean Avery twice and thwarting Nik Antropov on a clean breakaway. The big stop came following a great outlet pass by Michal Rozsival springing Antropov for the break-in. But the veteran Russian who was acquired from the Maple Leafs at the trade deadline was outdueled by his younger countryman, who patiently outwaited him to deny a forehand deke from in tight. That great save kept the game scoreless.

Despite not breaking through there, the Rangers didn’t let it deter them. Instead, for the first time all series, they were the aggressor controlling the play with puck possession taking away time and space from Alex Ovechkin and the Caps. Standing up at the blueline, it was the Blueshirts who forced turnovers and got the first five shots of the game. In fact, they outshot Washington 8-2 dominating play.

Finally, the hard work paid off when a remarkable shift by a determined Avery led to Antropov getting the game’s opening tally 5:35 in. If the Ranger pest wasn’t quite himself in Game Six, that wasn’t the case tonight with a big hit on hannibal Shaone Morrisonn on the game’s first shift. A few shifts later, here was Avery controlling the puck behind the net taking a ton of punishment from two Caps. Somehow, he had the presence to keep the play alive centering for Brandon Dubinsky, who fanned on his one-timer from the slot. But the puck caromed right back to a wide open Antropov, who buried his second to give the Rangers their first lead since Game Four.

Antropov would later get nabbed for a high stick but even minus PK leader Blair Betts, the Rangers got the job done keeping the dangerous Caps off the scoreboard. Oddly enough, the turning point came when Capital defenseman John Erskine roughed up Avery as he was heading off for a line change. With the puck nowhere in the vicinity, it was blatantly obvious that it should’ve been a penalty. But because it was Avery, programmed referee tandem Dan O’Halloran and Brad Watson let it go. Not long after, the Caps’ best player in the series Alex Semin scored one of the oddest goals you’ll ever see to tie it.

With seemingly nothing going, Washington finally caught a huge break when Semin beat a stunned Henrik Lundqvist for his series best fifth at 15:34. Following the only Ranger power play of the game, Mike Green came out of the box and passed to Nicklas Backstrom, who then dished off for a streaking Semin. What happened next you couldn’t make up as the gifted Russian took a wrist shot which deflected off a diving Ryan Callahan weirdly past Lundqvist, who already was expecting a completely different angle. Hockey is a funny game and that bounce was about as unlucky as it gets. Perhaps it was a bad omen.

Despite controlling play, the Rangers found themselves knotted up after 20 minutes. In the second, they continued to get the puck deep even getting inspired work from the fourth line of Aaron Voros, rookie recall Artem Anisimov and Freddy Sjostrom. The Dubinsky line also continued to forecheck the Caps as did a newly constructed Scott Gomez line flanked by Callahan and Markus Naslund. Chris Drury centered Lauri Korpikoski and Nik Zherdev, who actually showed a pulse tonight.

Every line had good sustained pressure but when it came time to get the kind of quality shots needed to beat Varlamov, they couldn’t. Part of it was due to a Cap D which under pressure bent but didn’t break keeping most of the play to the outside. There was a ton of play behind the net but nothing ever developed to make you think the Rangers would reclaim the lead. If there was one team-wide epidemic all season, it was the lack of finish. In the end, that’s what cameback to bite this 2008-09 edition.

The effort certainly was there with a restless Verizon Center even starting to boo their team. You could feel the nervousness in the crowd. But the goal never came letting the Caps off the hook. Eventually, they came on midway through the contest beginning to skate better and generate chances including a glorious one when Ovechkin had Viktor Kozlov set up but a sprawling Lundqvist kept out the gimme rebound. He later would stone Ovechkin on a dangerous chance keeping the contest tied. In a period which saw zero penalties called even though the Caps got away with a blatant bench minor when they had as many as seven on with it blindly called offside, neither team would budge keeping the game up for grabs headed to the third.

To show you how close this game was in sharp contrast to the last two, the Rangers led in shots 14-11. Despite holding a potent offense to 11 shots, they still were tied which probably was a bad thing. All Bruce Boudreau had to tell his team was that they were somehow tied 1-1 and hadn’t come close to their best hockey. If they won a period, they’d advance.

That’s exactly what happened with the real Caps showing taking control with their better skating and all out attack that included plenty of pinching from Green. They threw the gauntlet at Lundqvist outshooting the Rangers 13-1 but for most of it, he was up to the task keeping the puck out. It almost gave me hope that if they somehow got it to overtime, they’d find a way to win.

Interestingly, the lone Ranger shot came off the stick of Callahan on a nifty deflection which Varlamov made a superb save on keeping the game tied. So, when the just turned 21 year-old was called upon, he was equal to the task.

As the Caps mounted more pressure, I just wondered if the Rangers could hold them off. That got answered soon enough when unlikely Game 5 hero Matt Bradley worked out a loose puck to Fedorov in the neutral zone. The 39 year-old then went wide on Wade Redden, who stayed with him keeping the chance outside. But Fedorov snuck a deceptive wrist shot from the circle which went upstairs shortside on Lundqvist suddenly giving the Caps a 2-1 lead before a raucous Verizon Center.

As good as he was tonight in stopping 22 of 24 shots, there’s little doubt that Lundqvist choked on the winner. Plain and simple. An unscreened shot from a hockey dinosaur has to be stopped. Instead, his glaring weakness which took the Rangers right out of Game 6 got exposed once again. It was as disappointing a goal as he could allow at that time. Sure. It was a great play by a guy who should be a lock for the Hall of Fame. But in that situation, with Redden hustling back to force the shot from the perimeter, Lundqvist has to make that save.

Sadly, that’s why I can’t call him an elite goalie. Because for as brilliant as he can be at times like earlier in this series is as mindboggling as he can be allowing klunkers. Judging from the look on his face during the classic traditional handshake, it’s going to be a very long summer for Lundqvist.

Spurred on by Fedorov’s unlikely goal from Stanley Cup past, the Caps dominated the final 4:59 forcing Lundqvist to make at least three big saves including a highway robbery on Semin, who again was perfectly setup from Ovechkin. It was after that stellar stop that I wondered to my Dad how he can make such a brilliant save but couldn’t eat up goals like Fedorov’s or immortal Milan Jurcina which set the tone for last game. That’s where this team is. Where even our goalie remains an unsolved mystery. Cue the old NBC show theme with the now deceased Robert Stack doing the voiceover.

Full credit to the Washington Capitals who wouldn’t allow our team any kind of a chance playing the kind of winning hockey in front of their young netminder it takes to win at this time of year. They didn’t even allow the Rangers to pull Lundqvist.

In the end, the better team won. Now, it will be a long offseason for the Ranger organization. One which begs for drastic changes.

Three Stars:

3rd Star-Sean Avery, NYR (assist, 2 SOG, 4 hits, 2-0 draws in 20:59)

2nd Star-Simeon Varlamov, Wsh (14 saves incl. 7 in 1st, 7 GA on 145 shots in series)

1st Star-Sergei Fedorov, Wsh (series clinching goal w/4:59 left, 2 SOG, 2 hits, blocked shot, 6-6 draws in 17:08)

Notes: In his NHL playoff debut, Anisimov wore No.42 and took 12 shifts (5:35) finishing Even with a takeaway and giveaway while going 1-for-2 on faceoffs. He didn’t make any glaring mistakes getting the puck deep and doing some nice stuff on the cycle. Hopefully, we’ll get to see a whole lot more of the former 2nd Rd. pick this Fall. … In place of suspended Donald Brashear, Washington captain Chris Clark was effective in his return from injury getting 11 shifts (8:13) while registering three hits. With the game still tied, he had a glorious chance to put the Caps ahead late in the second but was denied on a great backcheck by Callahan, who saved a goal.

… The Caps controlled the faceoff circle going 26-for-49 led by a dominant David Steckel, who finished 11-4. Drury was the Rangers’ best going five-for-eight on a broken finger. … The Caps won the physical battle outhitting the Blueshirts 46-30 including a game best seven from Jurcina, who was an unsung hero on their blueline. For the Rangers, three players (Avery, Dubinsky and Dan Girardi) finished with four each in defeat. … The Rangers blocked 16 Cap shots including four apiece from Girardi and Derek Morris, who played a strong game in probably his final one in Ranger colors. Washington blocked 11 shots with Backstrom, Jurcina and Brian Pothier each getting in the way of a pair.

And finally, here are a couple of quotes. One from the winning side and the other from the disappointed loser which sum up this series.

Fedorov on series winner:

“There was not much going on, so I decided to shoot the puck.”

Fedorov on Varlamov:

“Like I always say: It’s nice to be young and not really know what’s going on around you.“

Dubinsky on what happened:

“You look back and you say: We had ‘em down, we had our foot on ‘em, and we let ‘em up.“