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Rangers' season ended by Hossa's OT goal

Rangers coach Tom Renney, center rear, stands behind the Rangers bench and react to a 3-2 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, ending the Rangers season. (AP Photo / May 4, 2008)

BY STEVE ZIPAY | steve.zipay@newsday.com

May 5, 2008

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PITTSBURGH - Gone in an instant, a dramatic two-goal rally in the third period that conjured possibilities of a Game 6 in New York tonight. Gone in an instant, a penalty-kill for the first 2:41 of overtime.

Gone in an instant, the five-game ousting of the rival Devils in the first round of the playoffs last month. Gone in an instant, an exhilarating final-week drive to the No. 5 seed in the East.

Gone in an instant, the promise of last fall, when the Rangers' sights were high.

The long journey that brought them to Mellon Arena yesterday? It's over.

"It's so intense, you're right there, and it's gone. It's just empty, your head is empty," said Henrik Lundqvist, who couldn't react quickly enough to Marian Hossa's low shot at 7:10 of overtime that gave the Penguins a 3-2 victory and finished the Rangers' season. "You work so hard starting last summer, and suddenly it's over."

For the second year in a row, the Rangers were eliminated from the postseason in the second round in early May. Last season, the Sabres sent them home in six games; this year, it took just five for the Penguins, who will play the Flyers in the Eastern Conference finals.

"The organization was filled with hope. With what we did in the offseason [signing free-agent centers Scott Gomez and Chris Drury], our expectations were high," said Brendan Shanahan, 39, who, along with veterans Jaromir Jagr, Martin Straka and others, might not be around next season. After Hossa, who came to the Penguins at the trade deadline, scored his second of the game, there was little else to do but form a handshake line, chronicle the past and prepare for an uncertain future.

"We didn't play very well the first half of this season, but we kept playing well when we needed to, the last 20 games of the season, even in the playoffs," said Jagr, 36, a postseason dynamo with 15 points who wants to continue his career with the Rangers or elsewhere. "It wasn't good enough."

Not good enough, but the Rangers gave the Penguins some cause to wonder late yesterday after Pittsburgh brought a 2-0 lead into the third period.

Drury was cut under the left eye by Ryan Malone's stick in front of the Pittsburgh net only 92 seconds into the second period and left a puddle of blood on the ice. But the officials didn't see the infraction. "We thought there should have been a penalty, and it wasn't called," Rangers coach Tom Renney said.

Hossa scored his first off Lundqvist, who hadn't allowed a goal in 106:15, after diving headlong and sweeping his stick to keep the puck in at the blue line on a power play while Michal Rozsival was off, finishing a two-pass cross-ice setup from Sidney Crosby and Malone.

Evgeni Malkin, who had a team-high 10 shots, gave the Penguins a two-goal lead on a second effort and spinaround backhander that went high stickside at 12:40.

After their team was outworked and outshot 27-11 for 40 minutes, two of the youngest Rangers struck in a span of 1:22 of the third. In his first NHL game, 21-year-old Lauri Korpikoski, the 19th overall pick in the 2004 draft, ripped a shot from the right side over Marc-Andre Fleury's glove at 2:03. Nigel Dawes tied the score from in front, going to his backhand to slide the puck under Fleury at 3:25. Momentum had changed.

With 1:28 left, Drury drew a four-minute high-sticking major. The effort to kill that, which extended into overtime, finally sapped the Rangers.

When a pass by Pascal Dupuis kicked off Dan Girardi's skate in the slot to Hossa, Lundqvist said: "I read he was going high and it went five-hole ... I asked him [Hossa] afterward and he said he just missed the shot. Everything happened so fast."

Many Rangers felt the turning point was the first game of the series. "Probably the 3-0 lead and losing that game [5-4]," Drury said.

"We gave a young team some hope in that one," Shanahan said. "We didn't get any wins in the first three games."

Lundqvist said: "The next couple of days, you'll be wondering what you could have done better. You're surrounded by a great group; this year was not our year."