On the verge of what they thought would be the Game 5 victory that turned the Eastern Conference semifinals in their favor, the Rangers instead were eliminated from the playoffs Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh.

Believing they would be heading back to a frenzied Madison Square Garden to take on a rattled bunch of young Penguins in a Monday night Game 6, the Rangers instead embark on an off-season of difficult decisions.

Unlike a year ago, when their first-round sweep of Atlanta and tight second-round series with Buffalo constituted an undeniable step forward for the franchise, Rangers brass must evaluate whether the current group has stalled.

"I think the expectations after they signed 'Gomer' and 'Dru', it was very high," Rangers captain Jaromir Jagr said of the July 1, 2007, free-agent signings of centers Scott Gomez and Chris Drury. "Probably, we didn't play very well the first half of the season. But we still played very well when we needed to -- especially the last 20 games when we needed to make the playoffs. And even in the playoffs.

"It wasn't good enough. But probably the expectations were higher than what we did this year."

GM Glen Sather has been on record as saying he wants to re-sign Jagr, whose contract expires June 30. But Jagr said after Sunday's game that he doesn't yet know whether he wants to return to the Rangers.

Resolving Jagr's status is Job One for the Rangers, since replacing him would be difficult and costly and might preclude upgrading the team in other needed areas, particularly on defense.

PENGUINS 3, RANGERS 2 (OT): Despite rallying from a 2-0 deficit on goals by rookies Lauri Korpikoski and Nigel Dawes early in the third, the Rangers fell Sunday afternoon in Mellon Arena on a goal 7:10 into overtime by Marian Hossa. For the second straight spring, the Rangers were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs.

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