Report: Superstar's chance at Lord Stanley vanishes yet again.

Report: Superstar's chance at Lord Stanley vanishes yet again.

After an epic series in where both teams absolutely played there hearts out, the Tampa Bay Lightning emerged victorious over the New York Rangers in Game 7 of the 2014-2015 Eastern Conference Final. It marked elation for a young Bolts' team and disap

HockeyFeed

HockeyFeed

After an epic series in where both teams absolutely played there hearts out, the Tampa Bay Lightning emerged victorious over the New York Rangers in Game 7 of the 2014-2015 Eastern Conference Final. It marked elation for a young Bolts' team and disappointment for the seasoned Rangers. While, many players on the Rangers will take this as a lesson learned, for goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, it marks another failed attempt at a coveted Stanley Cup. Lundqvist may be one of the few players in the NHL who has played well enough during his career to earn a Cup, but has not managed to ever capture one. He is arguably the Rangers best player, night-in-night out and is a constant in the postseason. This year he posted a .928 playoff save percentage, good for second place behind Braden Holtby. His opponents gave credit to the veteran netminder after Game 7, who kept New York alive for a good portion of the game. “I think we all expected him to do that; he’s a great goaltender,” said Lightning forward Tyler Johnson of Lundqvist to NHL.com. “There’s no denying that. We knew we would just have to keep getting opportunities and we knew he was going to save a lot of those, so it was just a matter of time for us to get try to get more opportunities than he could save. Luckily, we were able to.” Very little of the blame can be placed on Lundqvist for the "early" exit. On paper, the Rangers had a legitimate shot at winning the Stanley Cup. They entered the playoffs as the President’s Trophy winners and reigning Eastern Conference champions. They established themselves as the top team from the regular season, with a league-high 113 points and a top-ranked goal differential of plus-60. They had an all-world goaltender in Lundqvist and a perennial "Rocket" Richard candidate in Rick Nash for added scoring. They had depth on both offense and defense, and even made key deadline acquisitions like Keith Yandle to bolster a long playoff run. The squad also had a wealth of playoff experience, as New York had reached the Conference Final three out of the past four years. The attention turns to Lundqvist, who is the undeniable backbone of this team. At 33 years-old he is not getting any younger and the dominant Swede will only have so many chances like this in his remaining years. While Lundqvist is far from calling it a career, he must feel very disappointed at the moment. Off the ice he has always exhibited class and that is just another reason he deserves to finish his career with a Cup to his name. For one of the game's best players at their position, time is running out. In his words, they were "so close."

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