NOT A NEW YORK STATE OF MIND..

It seems that the hopes and dreams of NY Sports fans were dealt a harsh blow this weekend as both NY sports teams were whisked out of the playoffs in humiliating fashion.

The NY Rangers headed into Washington on Saturday, trailing 3 games to 1 to the Capitals. After losing in OT on Wednesday, there were faint hopes that the Blueshirts would be able to come up with a strong effort to at least make it back to MSG for Game 6. There were a decent number of Ranger hopefuls in attendance on a rainy holiday Saturday to cheer on their team.

Unfortunately for the diehards, the only ones who showed up for the game were the Caps on the ice and the Blueshirt fans at the bar as the NY Rangers could not muster up any type of offense to stay alive in the series.  The 3-1 Washington victory knocked the NY Rangers out of the playoffs, crushing the hopes of NY hockey fans everywhere.  A truly sad display of hockey in my opinion.  Well, there's always next year.  At least they won one game in this series, which is one more than the other NY playoff team, the KNICKS did.

The Knicks were unmercifully swept away in their first appearance in the playoffs in over seven years, losing to the Boston Celtics, 4 games to none.  While it was bad enough that the Knicks were swept out of the playoffs, what made it worse was the fact that their losses at home were worse than their losses on the road. So much for home court advantage.  

The one thing you can take away from the weekend's losses is that both teams are relatively young and you can for once, chalk this up as experience for the future.  If management of both teams stay the course and make the right decisions, the future is indeed bright for sports teams at Madison Square Garden.  Let us hope they keep doing what they are doing.

SIDE NOTE: Someone reminded me about the Buffalo Sabres.  Yes, they are still in the playoffs and they face a HUGE Game 7 vs Philadelphia tomorrow night (which we will carry, by the way).  However, I think they blew their opportunity on Sunday, when they had a 3-1 lead in a game that would have eliminated the Flyers.  Instead, they allowed Philadelphia to come back to tie and eventually win the game in overtime.  Now the momentum has clearly moved to Philadelphia's side and it will be a tall task to win it all on the road.

Cheers!