Rangers Crawl To Finish Line

The collapse is complete. Not even the return of Henrik Lundqvist from a hip flexor could inspire the Rangers to victory and a first Atlantic Division title since '93-94. Instead, they wilted in a 5-1 loss to Ottawa at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night to limp to the finish line- losing their final five games to blow the division and finish behind both the Devils and Flyers, who each rallied to win their final games.

The good news is that the slate is clean. They will be playing playoff hockey for the first time since '97. The question is can they rediscover what made them a good team in time for Game One Saturday against the archrival Devils at Continental Airlines Arena.

"It's hard," Michael Nylander told the AP. "We had the division on the line for many games now and we didn't come through."

"We gave the other team a lot of odd-man rushes," Jaromir Jagr said. "Maybe we are tired and we're making mistakes, but this is not the way you want to go into the playoffs."

With Lundqvist back in net for the first time since ironically a blowout loss at Ottawa and defenseman Darius Kasparaitis returning after missing 12 of the last 13 with a groin injury, the Rangers didn't start poorly. But with the game not even 30 seconds old, they lucked out when Martin Havlat hit the crossbar on a clean breakaway.

After that shaky first shift, the Rangers sharpened and outshot the Senators 13-6 in the first period. But they couldn't get the crucial first goal which might have made them relax.

While they peppered Ray Emery, Lundqvist proved he was healthy by making a couple of big glove saves to thwart Ottawa chances.

"I felt good for two periods and then I got tired in the third," Lundqvist said.

The Senators drew first blood thanks to a Ranger mistake. Taking advantage of a horrendous shift by Fedor Tyutin, Patrik Eaves converted his 20th to give Ottawa the lead at 8:28. With Tyutin almost skating the puck out of his zone, Eaves pressured him into a turnover, leading directly to a two-on-one down low. He finished a give-and-go with Daniel Alfredsson one-timing the puck upstairs.

Alfredsson would put the Senators up two 7:04 later when he tallied his 43rd on the power play. Taking advantage of a questionable tripping penalty on Blair Betts, he rebounded home a Wade Redden shot.

But on the very next shift, the Rangers cut it in half just 16 seconds later when Jaromir Jagr setup Martin Straka's 22nd. Retrieving a long Michal Rozsival pass, Jagr drew two Ottawa defenders and fed a vacant Straka for a tap-in.

The Senators threatened to go back ahead two but Lundqvist robbed his former Swedish Olympic teammate Alfredsson on a breakaway with a remarkable glove save to keep the margin one heading to the third.

It didn't take long for the wheels to fall off. During a four-on-four, Andrej Mezaros beat Lundqvist to the glove side only 1:12 in to restore the two-goal lead.

The Rangers had a chance to get back in the game. Finally awarded their first power play to mock cheers, they instead allowed a crushing shorthanded goal to Mike Fisher. After blocking a Jagr one-timer at the blueline, he went one-on-two and then powered around Straka, and Lundqvist for the unassisted goal to increase the lead to 4-1 at 7:13. The goal sent many to the exits.

Heatley put it out of reach with a PPG for his 50th with 6:12 remaining, becoming the first ever Senator to reach that mark in franchise history.

Notes: Lundqvist finished with 27 saves while counterpart Emery turned aside 27 of 28. ... Defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh was a healthy scratch. ... Coupled with Carolina's 4-0 loss to Buffalo, Ottawa finished a point ahead of them to clinch the East's top seed and home ice for the second time in the last three postseasons. They'll meet the defending Cup champion Lightning in the first round. ... With an assist, Jagr finished two points behind San Jose's Joe Thornton for the Art Ross. Thornton led the league with 125 points while Jagr finished with 123.