The New York Rangers find themselves in unfamiliar territory - eliminated after the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
At the hands of a 6-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5 on Saturday afternoon, the Rangers were sent packing in the first round for the first time since 2011.
The stable blue line that anchored the Rangers to two of the last three conference finals didn't show up this spring, and Henrik Lundqvist unraveled as New York allowed at least three goals in every game of the series.
Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault knows the performance wasn't good enough.
"We all wanted and expected more," Vigneault told reporters after the game.
Captain Ryan McDonagh felt the same way.
"They played better, and simply put, they executed better in all facets of the game - power play, penalty kill, and five-on-five," McDonagh said. "We didn't play well enough. They were a lot better throughout the series, made us pay for our mistakes - and we made way too many. It's tough to grasp right now. We didn't play up to our potential."
Lundqvist, who annually is the Rangers' best player, wasn't in top form this postseason, and he knows it.
"You need to be extremely confident as a goalie to stop those types of shots," Lundqvist said, referring to the Penguins' high-percentage scoring chances in the series. "These last two games I wasn't strong enough to do that.
"The last two I have to be better. But also the way we played, the way we give up chances, it's going to be tough to win games," he added.
Now, the Rangers' front office faces an offseason filled with difficult decisions. Already pressed against the salary cap, New York has choices to make with unrestricted free agents Keith Yandle and Eric Staal - who New York added at the expense of future first-round picks - along with restricted depth players Chris Kreider, Kevin Hayes, and J.T. Miller.
