Morgan Barron of the New York Rangers skates against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on May 1, 2021. Credit: Jim McIsaac
And now, the end is near for the Rangers, who close out the 2021 season on Saturday afternoon in Boston against a surging Bruins team they could not catch for the final playoff spot in the NHL’s East Division, and one that thumped them, 4-0, Thursday night, at the end of an emotionally draining 48 hours.
Wednesday’s firing of team president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton, and the fight-filled game that night against the Washington Capitals, was the equivalent of the classic penultimate episode of a popular HBO series, where several main characters are killed off, leaving the final episode for tying up loose ends.