What the Rangers wished for on opening night suddenly wasn't good enough when the regular season ended.
New York is going to the playoffs for the first time in nine years, but the Rangers dropped their fifth straight game Tuesday night in New York — a 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators — and blew their last chance to secure their first division title since the Stanley Cup-winning season of 1993-94.
Picked to finish last by many, New York set its sights on just making the postseason. The Rangers wrapped that up with seven games left and were in great position to win the Atlantic Division, too. But their longest skid of the season, no points in five straight games, pushed them all the way down to the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference.
"It's hard," forward Michael Nylander said. "We had the division on the line for many games now and we didn't come through."
Instead of having home-ice advantage in the first round, the Rangers will instead play the New Jersey Devils, who rallied to capture the Atlantic by winning their final 11 games. That best-of-seven series will begin Saturday in New Jersey and continue Monday in the Meadowlands.
DEVILS 4, CANADIENS 3: At Montreal, Jamie Langenbrunner capped a stunning third-period comeback. Brian Gionta had three points, including his franchise-record 47th and 48th goals, then Langenbrunner scored with 2:23 to go in regulation.
FLYERS 4, ISLANDERS 1: At Uniondale, N.Y., Jeff Carter put Philadelphia into fifth place in the overall Eastern Conference standings, beating Garth Snow on a breakaway with 7:22 left. The Flyers will open the playoffs at Buffalo.
SABRES 4, HURRICANES 0: At Raleigh, N.C., Chris Drury scored to reach 30 goals for the first time in his NHL career, Martin Biron got his first shutout of the season and Buffalo dropped the Hurricanes out of the top spot in the East.
PANTHERS 2, THRASHERS 1: At Sunrise, Fla., Mike Van Ryn's overtime goal, his second score of the game, lifted the Panthers. Van Ryn took a pass from Joe Nieuwendyk in the left circle and his slap shot went over the shoulder of Adam Berkhoel at 1:34 of overtime.
MAPLE LEAFS 5, PENGUINS 3: At Toronto, Mats Sundin scored two goals and added two assists to finish his best offensive season since 2002. The 35-year-old Sundin finished with 78 points (31 goals and 47 assists) in 70 games, his best since he got 80 points in 82 games in 2001-02.
BLUE JACKETS 5, STARS 4 (OT): At Columbus, Ohio, Sergei Fedorov's 14th career overtime goal, 35 seconds into the extra period gave Columbus a victory over Dallas. Fedorov tied Sundin's NHL record for overtime goals.
CAPITALS 4, LIGHTNING 1: At Tampa, Fla., Jeff Halpern scored twice and goalie Brent Johnson stopped 42 shots. The Capitals finished their season with a three-game winning streak that included a win over Atlanta that eliminated the Thrashers from postseason contention and clinched a berth for Tampa Bay.
PREDATORS 6, RED WINGS 3: At Nashville, Tenn., Paul Kariya's first goal was denied by video review, but he scored three more that counted for his ninth career hat trick, and the Predators snapped the Red Wings' 20-game points streak.
BLACKHAWKS 3, BLUES 2 (OT): At Chicago, Kyle Calder scored at 3:20 of overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks a win as two of the NHL's worst teams concluded their seasons.