The snow has melted, the birds are a chirping and the newspapers and sports media are talking about baseball, baseball and more baseball. That's right it's hockey playoff time!

Let the stubble growing commence!

Wednesday night will mark a clean slate. The prior 82 games were just a warm up, a marathon to distinguish who plays who and who has home ice advantage. Come Game 1 the only thing that really matters is the Washington Capitals.

There is always something relieving in being the underdog. The word on the street, the blogs and in the main stream press is that the Rangers are going to be out gunned by the offensive Capitals. The catch phrase question is, "Can the Rangers stop Alexander Ovechkin?" The Rangers will also need to stop Mike Green who leads all defensemen in offensive numbers and stop the 2nd rated power play in the entire league. Hey, if you had any inkling that anything for the Rangers was going to come easy you haven't been a Rangers fan for very long.

Much of the talk concerning this series is focused on young Marc Staal who will have the daunting task of being primarily matched up against the league MVP, Alexander Ovechkin. Marc Staal and his defensive partner Daniel Girardi have earned both the spotlight and the minutes they play. When John Tortorella took over as coach he made it very clear that if you play well you get more ice time allowing Marc Staal to pluck away the ice time from the underachieving big money defensemen Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival. Now the stakes are even higher for Staal and he seems to be ready and willing for the challenge. This is the type of series that can make him a household name all over the league.

The Rangers do have some things riding in their favor. To counter the Capitals potent power play the Rangers wield the top ranked penalty killing unit in the league. The Rangers also have their best player, Henrik Lundqvist. Lundqvist is no stranger to the pressure; in fact he strives for it. Lundqvist completely stifled the New Jersey Devils in last season’s opening round and he MUST be able to do the same thing to the Capitals for the Rangers to pull off the upset.

Meanwhile the Rangers' offense will have to score goals. Yes, I know it's a redundant statement. But, the Rangers have had scoring woes all season long and even if the Rangers' defense and Lundqvist could hold the mighty Ovechkin and the Capitals to just 2 goals a game, it will mean very little if the Rangers are unable to exploit the inconsistent Jose Theodore and muster up the 3 goals needed to win.

What this series may very well come down to are the intangibles. Players like Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky and of course Sean Avery will all need to be on their respective games and doing what they do best, hitting everyone in sight. The Rangers forecheck will need to have all their guns blazing and keep the Capitals reeling in their own end. I've said this before concerning playing an offensive team, you don't have to worry about a team's offense if they are stuck chasing the puck in their own end and that's exactly the game plan John Tortorella wants.

Sean Avery will have to be a factor, whether it be on the scoreboard or unraveling the psyche of the opposing players. Looking back at the last two post seasons the two series against the Thrashers then the Devils where Avery was visible, annoying and effective they won both series handedly. In both second rounds against the Sabres and Penguins Avery was much less effective and visible, we all know how those series went.

Chris Drury, who has not been practicing with the team with an undisclosed injury, is considered questionable for Game 1. Drury had come alive in the two final home games. The Rangers need Drury and namely the Chris Drury who scored that 7.7 second goal to foil the Rangers two seasons ago to get into the second round.

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So basically much needs to come together for the Rangers. The Rangers have been quite the inconsistent team throughout the season. The good news is the team finished very strong winning their last three games against very tough opponents. The Rangers' third period comeback against the Flyers was a very good sign considering the third period issues the team has been having and problems on the road. Confidence will be key and they now have some going into tomorrow night's start to the playoffs.

The Rangers CAN win this series. The Capitals are not unbeatable but the Rangers will have to be consistent game in and game out from here on out. Otherwise this will be a very short run.

Prediction:
Inconsistent lackadaisical Rangers – Washington in 5
Consistent hard working every damn shift Rangers – Rangers in 7



*Update 1:00pm:
As per Steve Zipay, Chris Drury is indeed expecting to play in Game 1. Link here.





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