Rangers Claw Their Way Into the East Final

That Rangers logo was dancing on the disco floor for a couple of games and boy, oh boy... they hung on, even down 1-0 in the 1st period against the Capitals, picking up a tying goal in the 2nd period and then engaging in a deadlocked game, through to overtime, where a big faceoff after an icing call was where it all went right for them on Wednesday night.

Derek Stepan was the right guy, in the right place, at the right time, bouncing on a loose puck in the Capitals zone and picking up the series winning goal and earning 2 points on the night.

It wasn't like Henrik Lundqvist had the cake walk that Ben Bishop did the night before, as he had to hold off a very potent Washington offense, which put 36 shots on net, which 35 of them were stopped.  He was the only other notable player in this one, winning another Game 7 and adding to his own lore, which still needs a Stanley Cup.

The Capitals were not the favourite in this series, by any means, thanks to that split series against the Islanders, so the Rangers were the pool favourites to go through.  With the elimination, only 57 picks got bumped out, Nicklas Backstrom and Matt Niskanen were the top players taken, each selected 10 times.

In scoring for the Capitals, Braden Holtby was tops on the sheet for the team with 15 points, while Joel Ward has proved his playoff mettle yet again, picking up 10 points, including a bonus point.  Both players were active in the pool, at varying levels.

So, that's that.  The end of the second round.

To no one's surprise, Fontanna had the best score in the second round, picking up 83 points, while Jesse P. picked up 80 points to be 2nd.  These two are also your 1st and 2nd place teams overall in the standings and this was where they made their money.

In 3rd place, Sean L. now sits with the tie-breaker on Stacey M., as they both sit with 171 points, Stacey outscoring Sean in the second round by 3 points to even up the standing.

Sairosh, our leader at the end of the opening round, only had 63 points in the second round and dropped down to 5th place in the standings, now, 3 points out of the money.  Grant S. is now 5 points out of the money and we'll likely have ourselves a quick look at how the teams in the race look with only four teams left in the playoffs.

What I can tell you is that three out of the top five teams have 12 players left, while the other two have 11 players.  In total, 14 teams have a full 12-player compliment, while six teams have 11 players and three teams have 10 players.  That's some fairly solid selections by a lot of teams in the pool, so a hearty well done to you.

Game-Winning Goals
The game winner went to Derek Stepan last night, which helped 16 teams in the pool, but Fontanna was not one of them.  Their team finished the second round with 15 bonus points, leading the way.  Tony C., Sean L. and Sairosh all finished with 13 bonus points.

Tyler Johnson leads all players in the pool with 3 GWG's in these playoffs, part of the reason why the Lightning are continuing on, while seven more players each have a pair of winners to their name.

The Conference Finals preview should be dropping in the next day or two.