Rangers' remarkable season ended at Washington

2011 Playoffs Round 1, Game 5		Washington Wins Series 4-1
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GAME RECAP Associated Press In an elimination game at the Verizon Center, the Washington Capitals took full advantage of home-ice advantage for a Game 5 clincher on Saturday afternoon, beating the Rangers 3-1 to end the Blueshirts' 2010-11 season. Mike Green scored a first-period, power-play goal before exiting the game after being hit in the head by Matt Gilroy's slap shot, Alex Ovechkin scored on a partial breakaway in the second, and Alexander Semin tallied in the third. Caps goalie Michal Neuvirth made 26 saves and had a shutout until Wojtek Wolski scored in the final minute. The top-seeded Capitals allowed only eight Rangers goals in the series. The Capitals are moving on to the Eastern Conference semifinals, having won the first playoff series under Bruce Boudreau that didn't go the distance. He had led Washington through four seven-game series -- winning only one -- since becoming coach in 2007. The Capitals hadn't won a series in fewer than seven games since 1998, when they beat Buffalo 4-2 on the way to their only appearance in the Stanley Cup finals. Their last loss in fewer than seven was to Tampa Bay in 2003. Wolski scored in the waning seconds for the Rangers, who ended a season in which they made the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. The Blueshirts' went through the entire series without second-leading scorer Ryan Callahan, who broke his ankle on April 4. • MORE COVERAGE | PHOTO GALLERY

PHOTO OF THE GAME STAT OF THE GAME Henrik Lundqvist made 24 saves, as he started his 31st consecutive game -- a streak dating back to Feb. 11 at Atlanta. Lundqvist has started each of the Rangers' past 34 playoff contests dating back to the 2006 postseason. THREE STARS (selected by newyorkrangers.com) 1. Brian Boyle 2. W. Wolski 3. R. McDonagh

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THE BIGGER PICTURE It was hard not to love the 2010-11 Rangers for their work ethic alone. When NBC's Pierre McGuire raved about the team's bright future at the end of the broadcast, he did it in full recognition of the developing young talent and draft picks in the pipeline.

RANGERS LEADERS Icetime -- Staal (22:51) Shots -- Wolski (6) Hits -- Prospal (4) Blocks -- Staal (6) Takeaways -- Stepan (2) Faceoffs -- Drury (23)

NEW YORK RANGERS LINEUP AT WASHINGTON
FORWARD LINES
Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Vinny Prospal	Derek Stepan	Marian Gaborik
Ruslan Fedotenko	Brandon Dubinsky	Wojtek Wolski
Sean Avery	Brian Boyle	Brandon Prust
Chris Drury	Artem Anisimov	Erik Christensen

DEFENSE PAIRINGS
Left Defense	Right Defense
Marc Staal	Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh	Michael Sauer
Bryan McCabe	Matt Gilroy
Goaltenders: Henrik Lundqvist, Chad Johnson Starting Lineup: Lundqvist, Staal, Girardi, Avery, Boyle, Prust.

POWER PLAY UNITS
FORWARD LINES
Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Vinny Prospal	Erik Christensen	Ruslan Fedotenko
Brandon Dubinsky	Brian Boyle	Marian Gaborik

POINT MEN
Left Point	Right Point
Wojtek Wolski	Bryan McCabe
Matt Gilroy	Dan Girardi

PENALTY KILLING UNITS
FORWARD UNITS
Forward	Forward
Brandon Dubinsky	Chris Drury
Brandon Prust	Brian Boyle
Ruslan Fedotenko	Artem Anisimov

DEFENSE PAIRINGS
Left Defense	Right Defense
Marc Staal	Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh	Michael Sauer