Post-Game Talk: New York Rangers at Los Angeles Kings |Game 1| 6/4/14

[FOD]

Henrik.

Muzzin - point blank 1st period.
Carter - point blank 1st period (two saves).
Lewis - breakway 2nd period
Tiffoli - partial break 3rd period
Kopitar - 3rd period point blank backhand

But, I don't think this game is about the goalies at all. It's about the Rangers missing point blank opportunities by whiffing, missing the net, making terrible decisions (Nash on that 3 on 1), and having no legs in the 3rd.

Laying this at Lundqvist's feet is like blaming your QB who just got you 42 points while your D gave up 49. Hank isn't the reason they lost this game.

The Kopitar backhand is a shot 100% of the goalies in the NHL need to stop. Not a tough shot.

 

[AHB*]

Sorry AHB, but you are wrong. Clearly wrong.

I'm clearly wrong? Was yesterday the first game you watched? Hank stood on his head. 99.9% of the board agrees with me. How you can blame this game on Hank is absurd. And then to just flat out tell me I"m wrong, when the majority of people here agree with me? Laughable.

Hank gave this team a chance to win. They blew it. He made 20 saves in the third period. Guess how many quick had, 3.

It was a barrage. Complete domination. Every analyst said Hank stood on his head.

Unlike some on here, I"m not an adamant defender of Hanks. I"ll call him out when he deserves it, like he has quite often this season, last night was not one of them. In fact, he deserves praise for showing up last night when his team abandoned him after the first period.

 

[LORDE]

Man, based on some of what I've read in this thread I'm surprised the Rangers even made the playoffs with all the bums they have playing for them.

Almost stole one from an excellent team.

While I applaud your optimistic outlook, "almost" doesn't mean **** in the Stanley Cup Final.

 

[Clown Fiesta]

Loss can be pinned on a lot of things, but goaltending isn't one of them.

Several positives to take away as well like our PK shutting down another strong PP unit, containing the Kopitar line, etc.

That 3rd period was something else, a fluke hopefully, it's like the whole team forgot it was the finals and reverted to October hockey. We haven't been outplayed like that in a long, long time. It can't happen again, and I don't think it will.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Sorry AHB, but you are wrong. Clearly wrong.

What is your point at this point??

I guess Lundqvist should've made 25 saves on 20 shots to make up for your weird lack of quality argument.

 

[Beer League Sniper]

Lundqvist had a better SV% than Quick last night, despite being the losing goalie. I'm hard on Hank when he plays like crap, but last night was not one of those nights. He outplayed Quick thoroughly. The Kings had heavy traffic in front for most of those shots in the 3rd. Many of those saves were extremely difficult. To call them "stat padders" is ridiculous.

 

[klingsor]

While I applaud your optimistic outlook, "almost" doesn't mean **** in the Stanley Cup Final.

You're right and I'm not that optimistic.

Man, I was so hoping that Hagelin would score at the end of regulation.

 

[McRanger]

Thoughts: The Rangers once again missed a prime opportunity to put an opponent away early in the game. They blew chance after chance to build the lead and completely lost their game after the Kings fought their way back. The team HAS to bury these scoring chances against a team that is as resilient as LA.

Girardi played one of the worst games I've seen from him in a long while. Diaz showed that people penciling him into the top-4 next season are out of their minds. Stepan needs to at least pretend that he's a shooting threat on the PP and stop constantly deferring to MSL on the far wall. Stralman had a great game physically, but he made several bad pinches that led to two-on-one's. Nash has got to start hitting the net. I still think Richards is more of a hinderance to his line and the PP than he is a benefit.

On to the next game. Hopefully the team can play a full 60 minutes this time around.

Pretty much all of this.

 

[Rangerfan4life90]

Bottom line is, they blew a lot of chances to put this game away. Against a great and resilient team like this, that was the killer.

After this game, I actually feel more confident that they could win this series, but they need to start putting in more of their chances.

 

[tbonenc*]

What is your point at this point??

I guess Lundqvist should've made 25 saves on 20 shots to make up for your weird lack of quality argument.

I made a simple observation that the first two goals that Hank let in were not played very well.

People jumped all over me and stated how he made 20 saves in the third. My response was that the saves were routine and should be stopped, resulting in more nonsense from the peanut gallery, but with no real substance.

Go back and rewatch the third and tell me where Hank was amazing.

I don't need a bozo analyst to see for me. And, please, stop with the "you don't know what your talking about". It's tired and used when people get emotional.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Thoughts: The Rangers once again missed a prime opportunity to put an opponent away early in the game. They blew chance after chance to build the lead and completely lost their game after the Kings fought their way back. The team HAS to bury these scoring chances against a team that is as resilient as LA.

Girardi played one of the worst games I've seen from him in a long while. Diaz showed that people penciling him into the top-4 next season are out of their minds. Stepan needs to at least pretend that he's a shooting threat on the PP and stop constantly deferring to MSL on the far wall. Stralman had a great game physically, but he made several bad pinches that led to two-on-one's. Nash has got to start hitting the net. I still think Richards is more of a hinderance to his line and the PP than he is a benefit.

On to the next game. Hopefully the team can play a full 60 minutes this time around.

Agreed all the way around, especially w/ Richards. From what I can gather, the guy seems to be a bigger benefit off the ice than on it. Its unbelievable so many people are worried about replacing him.

 

[Gardner McKay]

Thoughts: The Rangers once again missed a prime opportunity to put an opponent away early in the game. They blew chance after chance to build the lead and completely lost their game after the Kings fought their way back. The team HAS to bury these scoring chances against a team that is as resilient as LA.

Girardi played one of the worst games I've seen from him in a long while. Diaz showed that people penciling him into the top-4 next season are out of their minds. Stepan needs to at least pretend that he's a shooting threat on the PP and stop constantly deferring to MSL on the far wall. Stralman had a great game physically, but he made several bad pinches that led to two-on-one's. Nash has got to start hitting the net. I still think Richards is more of a hinderance to his line and the PP than he is a benefit.

On to the next game. Hopefully the team can play a full 60 minutes this time around.

Diaz is more inconsistent than John Moore or Del Zotto. When Diaz is good, he is good. When he is bad, well, we know how that went last night.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Diaz is more inconsistent than John Moore or Del Zotto. When Diaz is good, he is good. When he is bad, well, we know how that went last night.

Diaz scares me every shift. Theres nothing controlled and composed about his game.

 

[Fletch]

agreed, Trxjw! It was a team effort in not showing up for a full 60 minutes. How this team bounces back in the next game will determine how the rest of the series plays out, in my opinion. A bit worried about how that 3rd period played out. Too lopsided and hopefully it's just an issue of the cross-country travel, time off, etc., and with a couple days' rest and getting better acclimated to the time difference, we won't see that the next game.

Do not know why this has become a thread about Lundqvist. Can't steal every game, and thankfully it's a best of 7 and not best of 1. What about the power play? What about the defense getting beat? Not being able to clear the zone? Not taking shots? Being too fancy in the offensive zone? Sure, there have been games in which Lundqvist would've made two more saves on this many shots. Sure, he probably wouldn't mind a second chance at a couple shots. Sure, he did make a heck of a lot of quality saves. But this was a team loss and again, let's hope they regroup and prepare for 60 minutes of hockey on Saturday.

 

[Raspewtin]

I have faith that the coaches will have them ready for next game.

I just HATE sitting on this loss for two days. Hate it.

 

[Rangerfan4life90]

Diaz scares me every shift. Theres nothing controlled and composed about his game.

Seriously, and some people believe he could replace Stralman next season..

 

[chosen]

I get it, Hank has been a great player for the team, but I'm just tired of the excuses.

It is a goalie's job to stop the puck. On many occasions, like the OT goal, there is nothing a goalie can do. But, that was not the case with the first two goals. He is supposed to be our best player and the best goalie in the world.

Stopping perimeter shots is expected of every goalie in the NHL. That is what Hank saw for most of the third period...perimeter shots.

Quick saw many more point blank shots and made the saves.

It's not an indictment of Hanks career or his potential to play a great game. It is just stating that he was outplayed last night.

Clearly, Hank was the reason they lost. All of the media gets it, but here we blame other unimportant factors.

 

[nevesis]

“@stevezipay: #NYR not skating today, but we'll be speaking to the coach and a couple players in Santa Monica in about 90 minutes...”

 

[Raspewtin]

I'm clearly wrong? Was yesterday the first game you watched? Hank stood on his head. 99.9% of the board agrees with me. How you can blame this game on Hank is absurd. And then to just flat out tell me I"m wrong, when the majority of people here agree with me? Laughable.

Hank gave this team a chance to win. They blew it. He made 20 saves in the third period. Guess how many quick had, 3.

It was a barrage. Complete domination. Every analyst said Hank stood on his head.

Unlike some on here, I"m not an adamant defender of Hanks. I"ll call him out when he deserves it, like he has quite often this season, last night was not one of them. In fact, he deserves praise for showing up last night when his team abandoned him after the first period.

Ehhhh Hank played very good but I wouldn't say he stood on his head. He didn't face those kind of chances in the 3rd. A lot of the Kings shots were perimeter shots.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

I made a simple observation that the first two goals that Hank let in were not played very well.

People jumped all over me and stated how he made 20 saves in the third. My response was that the saves were routine and should be stopped, resulting in more nonsense from the peanut gallery, but with no real substance.

Go back and rewatch the third and tell me where Hank was amazing.

I don't need a bozo analyst to see for me. And, please, stop with the "you don't know what your talking about". It's tired and used when people get emotional.

Fine.

....you dont, though.

 

[Doctyl]

I thought Diaz looked pretty good when he first started as a ranger, much better than Moore. He's looked really bad these 2 games and I'm glad Moore is coming back saturday

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Ehhhh Hank played very good but I wouldn't say he stood on his head. He didn't face those kind of chances in the 3rd. A lot of the Kings shots were perimeter shots.

I think most would agree with this. He had a very good game. He wasn't required to stand on his head, though.

 

[AHB*]

I made a simple observation that the first two goals that Hank let in were not played very well.

People jumped all over me and stated how he made 20 saves in the third. My response was that the saves were routine and should be stopped, resulting in more nonsense from the peanut gallery, but with no real substance.

Go back and rewatch the third and tell me where Hank was amazing.

I don't need a bozo analyst to see for me. And, please, stop with the "you don't know what your talking about". It's tired and used when people get emotional.

The save on Carter at the end, the save on the slapper with Mitchell, etc, etc.

I could keep going but that's without re-watching the third.

Stop trying to prove a point that is utterly false.

 

[Miamipuck]

I made a simple observation that the first two goals that Hank let in were not played very well.

People jumped all over me and stated how he made 20 saves in the third. My response was that the saves were routine and should be stopped, resulting in more nonsense from the peanut gallery, but with no real substance.

Go back and rewatch the third and tell me where Hank was amazing.

I don't need a bozo analyst to see for me. And, please, stop with the "you don't know what your talking about". It's tired and used when people get emotional.

I think a case can certainly be made he didn't play the first one well at all, he cheated and got caught. The second was an elite player making an elite play, it happens. The third, lol that was a great shot by a guy that has icewater in his veins, Hasek in his prime is letting that one in.

 

[Miamipuck]

Diaz is 3 steps down from Moore, he was awful last night. I cringed when he was on the ice. He didn't look like an NHL player, certainly not on the caliber of the competition.