Paranoid Squirrels and goodbye Rangers

It was a nice slow morning today. Woke up at a reasonable hour, lots of snuggles before deciding it was time to put on clothes and be adults (which was forced on us by a delivery being due). Breakfast was courtesy of Richard's Cafe and then it was time to not do very much. I did start sorting some of my CDs out (getting rid of a load of unwanted ones) but that stalled after doing five shelves worth! We did enjoy listening to the Paranoid Squirrel Rock Show while I was doing it though! Toni hadn't listened to it before and really enjoyed it. Thumbs up to Armitage for another great show!

If you've never experienced the Paranoid Squirrel Rock Show before then you can find out more here: http://www.theparanoidsquirrel.com

This evening it was game five of the first round Stanley Cup Play Offs. New York Rangers were trailing 3 - 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins in a seven game series. No pressure or anything but the Rangers have to win four in a row. The Rangers have been dire in this series so far so we were hoping that they'd get it together for this game.

Things started well as Rick Nash put the Rangers 1 - 0 up at 01:02. Hagelin then drew the Penguins level at 09:50. Dominic Moors was then credited with a goal to take the Rangers 2 - 1 up at 10:35 (it was kicked in by Penguins player Hornqvist). Sadly the Penguins excellent power play unit made it 2 - 2 with a snipe from Phil Kessel at 11:39.

First period ended Rangers 2 - 2 Penguins with everything still to play for. Shots on goal were NYR 14 and PIT 11.

Second period started badly with the Penguins having most of the possession and Rust taking the Penguins 2 - 3 up at 05:21. Penguins continued to dominate the play and turned the screw a little more as Cullen made it 2 - 4 at 09:26. Rangers failed to convert a power play and then Sheary advanced the Penguins 2 - 5 with a beauty at 16:18. Rust then took the game completely out of reach as the advanced 2 - 6 at 19:01.

Second period ended Rangers 2 - 6 Penguins. Shots on goal were NYR 11 (25) PIT 12 (23). At this point we were thinking it was time to stick a fork in us but we were holding out for a miracle!

Third period began with Henrik Lundqvist now warming the bench after letting in six with Antti Raanta taking his place. The Rangers did at least seem to come out with a little urgency. Raphael Diaz scored on the power play to make it 3 - 6 at 05:38. Sadly that was it, the Rangers just couldn't crack the Penguins defence to take things any further despite their best efforts.

Third period, and the game, ended Rangers 3 - 6 Penguins. Shots on goal were NYR 16 (41) PIT 5 (28).

Hate to say it but the Penguins thoroughly deserved to win this series, they just outplayed the Rangers in nearly every game. Oh well, that's the season over for the New York Rangers. In the meantime Toni and I will be looking for a team to adopt for the remainder of the Play Offs.