Boomer was surprisingly composed when discussing the heartbreaking Rangers loss in game one of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, but of course acknowledged how frustrating of a defeat it was after the Blueshirts led 1-0 with less than three minutes to go in regulation.
"Losing a game like that was maddening," Boomer said.
Still, he didn't react like head coach Brian Daboll, who said he almost broke his TV when watching the Hurricanes win it in overtime. Instead of dwelling on missed chances, like the wide open net for Kaapo Kakko, or the frustratingly reserved offensive attack down the stretch, when New York appeared to play on its heels, there were plenty of positives for Boomer to take from the loss.
"Sometimes, it just doesn't go your way and things happen," Boomer said. "While I'm very disappointed this morning, don't get me wrong, I'm also kind of happy. I'm encouraged with the way they played defense…I'm sitting there going 'this is not good, they're not generating enough offense,' especially when it got to five minutes to go in the game. Eventually, somebody is gonna score for them. They're too good.
"They played their asses off, they gave a great effort, they lost. It was a freak goal in overtime, but that is NHL hockey. That is playoff hockey. Now they have to regroup, and somehow, their top players have to play better offensively and be more committed defensively, especially late in the game, as they weren't last night."
Still, Boomer had some moments in the series opener that ticked him off, and no, it wasn't Kakko missing the open net for what would have likely buried Carolina. It was a missed penalty call on Kakko before his missed shot.
"He was 100 percent slashed," Boomer said. "Every time, especially when you're ahead of the defense the way he was ahead of the defense…that's an automatic slashing penalty, but it wasn't called."
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