Take a moment to consider what you can accomplish in seven seconds. It’s not all that much time, is it? For the Buffalo Sabres though, seven ticks on the clock were enough to turn the Eastern Conference semi-final on its head.

In Game 5, Buffalo and New York delivered the taut, closely-fought thriller that everyone expected. The opening exchanges saw precious little in the way of offense – both sides killed off a few penalties, and otherwise could not muster more than a few shots on goal.

The second period, though, saw the Sabres charge out of the gate and take control of the game. In all, they fired 17 shots at Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. However, the Swede managed to turn aside all of them, keeping his team in a game that they probably should have trailed by a large margin.

Whether it was their attempts to recover from two straight losses or just the fact that they had returned home to Buffalo, the Sabres continued their stranglehold on the game in the third period. They kept a tight leash on all of the Rangers snipers – Jaromir Jagr, Brendan Shanahan and Michael Nylander all found themselves unable to create offensively. The Sabres again dominated play in the third period.

However, it was the Blueshirts that broke the scoreless deadlock. A long, hopeful shot from Martin Straka definitely beat Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller. At the time, the goal judge switched on the red light while the referee closest to the play waved it off as no goal. So, for the third time in five games, the Rangers found themselves anticipating a decision from a video replay review.

Unlike the previous versions, this one was solved in a matter of seconds. The best angle turned out to be the camera inside the net – the puck actually striking the camera turned out to be dead giveaway. Even the buffoons up in Toronto couldn’t get this one wrong - it was a definite goal for the Rangers. They were just three minutes and nineteen seconds away from taking a 3-2 lead on the No 1 seed, heading back home to Madison Square Garden to boot.

Expectedly, the Sabres went into kamikaze mode, sending everyone crashing towards the Ranger net. Lundqvist and the rest of the Rangers were barely holding on, and it only got worse for them when Buffalo pulled Miller for an extra skater. Somehow, the Blueshirts maintained the 1-0 lead – that is, until a momentary lapse of concentration led to the most dramatic of equalizers in a playoff year overflowing with last-gasp goals.

With around 10 seconds left to go in the game, the Rangers were whistled for icing. Not only did that bring the face-off deep into the New York zone, it also prohibited them from changing lines. With five tired players out there, winning the face-off would be crucial. It wasn’t to be, though. Chris Drury won it, and immediately the Sabres threw the puck at the net. Daniel Briere’s effort was clawed away by Lundqvist, but Drury was there to drill the rebound home to tie the game.

As I’ve mentioned before, a last-second goal can completely drain the will from the team that’s blown the lead. I’m not a Ranger fan per se – I’ve only adopted them since my Montreal Canadiens didn’t make the post season. However, that goal deflated me sitting in my living room. I can only imagine what it was like for the Rangers to know that they were just seven seconds away from pushing Buffalo to the edge of elimination.

Needless to say, Buffalo’s overtime winner was a formality from that point. Any jump left in the skates of New York was neutralized by Drury’s goal, and Maxim Afinogenov’s blast from the blueline beat Lundqvist through the five-hole to settle the matter early in the overtime period (it’s telling too that as good as “King Henrik” has been, that was a terribly soft goal to give up, especially in overtime of a tied series).

Although I wouldn’t sign the death certificate of the Rangers yet – especially with Game 6 to be played in MSG – one would have to think that after this, there is no way they’d win Game 7 back at the scene of Drury’s series-changing goal.

Can the Rangers turn it round after such a dramatic defeat? Add your comment below or write an article giving your opinion.