You won't find their names in tonight's scoring summary and they each missed significant time in this series, but the Rangers wouldn't have prevailed over Ottawa without the contributions of Carl Hagelin and Chris Kreider. New York beat Ottawa 2-1 Thursday to survive Game 7.
The Rangers took a 2-0 lead in the game on almost identical plays- successful rushes by the defense that led to goals by Mark Staal and Dan Girardi. The Rangers held on from there thanks to some hard work from Hagelin and Kreider. They may both be rookies, but they played significant minutes in the second half of this game and they were great at keeping the puck in the hands of the Rangers as the clock ticked down. Henrik Lundqvist backed things up with his usual brilliance and New York will face off against the Capitals in the second round.
Meanwhile in Florida, the Devils won in game 7 of their own series, defeating the Florida Panthers, 3-2. It just took a little extra time. Devils rookie Adam Henrique scored two goals for New Jersey, including the game winner just under four minutes into the second overtime. The Devils were up 2-0 entering the 3rd period before the Panthers eventually tied the game. Martin Brodeur stopped 43 shots in the victory, including several shots in the first overtime. The Devils will play the Flyers in the second round.
The Knicks beat Charlotte, 104-84, and will head to Miami this weekend for the playoffs. The Nets lost, 98-67, to Toronto with a number of players out (conspiracy theorists might wonder if this will help their draft chances).
The Jets went with Quinton Coples, DE from North Carolina with their first round pick in the NFL Draft while the Giants took David Wilson, RB from Virginia Tech
