New York Rangers Sweep, Advance to Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Championships

The New York Rangers finished off the Atlanta Thrashers in the first round of the 2007 Stanley Cup Championships. Winning 4-2 on Wednesday night in New York, the Rangers were the only first round team to sweep, holding Atlanta's first franchise playoff appearance winless. This is the first time in ten years that the Rangers have advanced to the second round of the playoffs.

Coming off a 7-0 game three win Tuesday, New York held the momentum Wednesday to complete the series and become the first team to advance to round two. The sixth seed Rangers surprised the third seed Thrashers with the defeat, and surprised themselves too. "It never, ever entered my mind," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "A sweep? Never."

New York's Matt Cullen scored the game winning goal two minutes into the third period, narrowly beating Atlanta's goaltender Johan Hedberg. The puck hit the crossbar, but after careful video review at NHL offices in Toronto, the goal was awarded.

"I saw it hit the crossbar and then I lost sight of it," Cullen said. "I was actually surprised they were reviewing it. I didn't expect it to be a goal."

Michal Rozsival and Brendan Shanahan also scored for the Rangers during the first and second periods. Jaromir Jagr added an empty net goal late in the third. Henrik Lundqvist was superb in goal for the Rangers, stopping 24 shots in game four, 93 for the series against the Thrashers.

The Thrashers did manage to put two goals on the board Wednesday night. Keith Thachuk and Greg de Vries each provided a goal for Atlanta, but no one on the Thrashers bench was satisfied with the series outcome. The newer franchise performed very poorly in their first ever playoff appearance.

"We weren't even close to being competitive in the playoffs," said Atlanta's Bobby Holik. "There should be no sense of accomplishment whatsoever."

New York played strong defensively throughout the series, not giving Atlanta many scoring chances. They were also able to capitalize on the many power play chances, scoring on four of seven opportunities in the last two games. The combination of Shanahan and Jagr on offense, with Sean Avery providing the physical grit, the Rangers are set for what they hope will be a long playoff run this season.

"It wasn't our goal to just make the first round," Jagr added. "As long as we stay healthy we have a pretty good chance to go somewhere."

The Rangers should know their second round opponent in the coming week. The choices include Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Ottawa and Tampa Bay.