Post-Game Talk: Rangers Kings game 2

[Fugazy]

I seriously have no idea what Richards was doing last night.

Slow, weak, and no skill. Yeah, time for a healthy scratch.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I can't believe I've been a diehard fan for half my life and this is how it's going to end. Some incompetent baboons in a corrupt circus of a league just completely took a game away.

 

[yrrebbor]

The interference non-call was bad, but they have no one to blame except themselves for the OT goal.

#scoremoregoals

 

[yrrebbor]

I've been watching the LA games since the 2nd round and I have to say, most nights it really has seemed that way. They do get a lot of breaks. Might just be destiny this year, like 2 years ago. They were like a freight train 2 years ago. This year they seem to lack a bit of killer instinct but at the same time, they never quit and are the most resilient team I can ever remember seeing, and that includes my stanley cup winning wings teams in the past couple decades.

LA Cockroaches

 

[LesPaulMan]

I truly am sorry LA is in the finals

Don't get me wrong, they are a good team and deserve to be in the finals but as a lifelong Blackhawk fan no finals would be as exciting as the Chicago/New York prospect.

It's been an exciting two games, the series between Chicago and LA was nerve racking itself.

Do I root for Sutter as a previous Blackhawk/captain/coach or do I root for an original six team?

Anyway good luck and I fear the Hawks are going to have a rough set of years in front of them with them teetering at the salary cap now.

It sucks I'm 47 and that was probably the last chance of my life to see a Chicago vs New York finals. One goal away.

 

[Fugazy]

The Kings are 9-0 when Wes McCauley is the referee. 9-0.

 

[Water1]

I seriously have no idea what Richards was doing last night.

Perhaps he was trying to get a game closer to his buyout.
I don't think he was trying to lose, he just doesn't have it anymore.
AV needs to give him less minutes and double shift the other 3 centers at times to rest the old man. Oh and especially getting him off the power play would probably be a big help.
On the flip side, the rangers looked like the better team for most of the game, unfortunately some plays did not connect and some bad calls and non calls went against them. Had some chances to win, next time they will
Can still see the rangers in six

 

[RangerLifer]

The Kings are 9-0 when Wes McCauley is the referee. 9-0.

Who will the refs be for games 3 and 4?

 

[Water1]

Who will the refs be for games 3 and 4?

The Kings are 9-0 when Wes McCauley is the referee. 9-0.

Hmmm

 

[RangerLifer]

Don't get me wrong, they are a good team and deserve to be in the finals but as a lifelong Blackhawk fan no finals would be as exciting as the Chicago/New York prospect.

It's been an exciting two games, the series between Chicago and LA was nerve racking itself.

Do I root for Sutter as a previous Blackhawk/captain/coach or do I root for an original six team?

Anyway good luck and I fear the Hawks are going to have a rough set of years in front of them with them teetering at the salary cap now.

It sucks I'm 47 and that was probably the last chance of my life to see a Chicago vs New York finals. One goal away.

I've been wanting the Rangers to be in an O6 final for a long time now. Was hoping to play CHI now. Would have been better against a team that doesn't dive all the time like the Queens.

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

Don't get me wrong, they are a good team and deserve to be in the finals but as a lifelong Blackhawk fan no finals would be as exciting as the Chicago/New York prospect.

It's been an exciting two games, the series between Chicago and LA was nerve racking itself.

Do I root for Sutter as a previous Blackhawk/captain/coach or do I root for an original six team?

Anyway good luck and I fear the Hawks are going to have a rough set of years in front of them with them teetering at the salary cap now.

It sucks I'm 47 and that was probably the last chance of my life to see a Chicago vs New York finals. One goal away.

Could definitely see a Chicago/NY final once in the next three years, IMO. Hawks ate set, Rangers will probably be very good.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

That was a tough third goal guys. As a wings fan, if that had happened to my team last night I would still be livid. When they were showing the replays on TV I thought it was obvious interference, but that's just my opinion.

They really do need to do something about the refereeing. If the game is 'too fast', then slow it down and let coaches challenge something like that. I'd rather the league get it right than have something like this happen.

You want to really see the best team win without BS like this...but I guess it's part of the game, so they say anyway.

With that being said, the rangers have had a 2-goal lead, what, 4 times in this series in 2 games? And lost both. That's the bigger picture. Gotta clamp down harder. Maybe LA is just too good this year.

LA is frankly, amazing. You have to respect that team, coming back down 3 games to 0 against SJ, then beating ANA, then beating the stanley cup champs. Seriously. Amazing. They don't quit. I swear they could be down 6-0 in a game and find a way to win it. They have the be the most resilient team I can remember seeing, and I've been a hockey fan for 25 years.

I'm sure that's more than enough LA talk you want to hear lol.

Good luck the rest of the series. They won both home games, you guys have a chance to win both home games now and maintain the series...good luck tomorrow!

We outplayed LA in all but the 2 3rd periods. I guess 2nd OT last night they outplayed us, but who knows if that would still be the case if we got our rightful PP. LA isn't that special. Honestly, they looked amazing for 2 periods and mediocre at best the rest of the time. They're just clutch.

 

[kovazub94]

3rd goal interference call was so bad, no one even mentions interference on Kreider's breakaway or at least two important icing calls against the Rangers. Seems these calls mostly gone against us instead of in our favor so far.

Otherwise, I usually try not to single out players but B. Richards was brutal last night. Would've deserved benching if AV done it.

 

[RangerLifer]

Good luck the rest of the series. They won both home games, you guys have a chance to win both home games now and maintain the series...good luck tomorrow!

Thanks, WingsFan. I have a feeling this series is far from over. This team will get even more motivated to win it now. Going home with the home crowd will be nice.

 

[Richter Scale]

I was furious last night, and am still pretty angry this morning. Terrible non-call. And to the people in here saying that the Rangers need to just "battle through it" - I posted these on the main boards. Sorry - that's crap. The (non) call not only changed the complexion of the game, it directly altered the scoreboard. Not the same as "battling through adversity."

[To Mods: I brought the main board quotes from another poster here as context, so that my replies didn't look strange as stand alones. If that is a problem, instead of deleting the quoted posts altogether, can we just edit out the name of the poster and/or edit the content to be in line with what his/her point was (which is similar to some of the crap I'm seeing here)?]

So you're saying the Rangers are incapable of defending a one goal lead in the third period, moreover, incapable of bouncing back and winning in OT with PP advantage?

Because after all we heard about how impenetrable the Rangers' D and goaltending was, that's a pretty damning inference.

I think everyone acknowledges it was at the very least a marginal non-call that could have gone either way. But Rangers fans are ignoring that they still had a 4-3 lead, after already blowing a 2-0 lead.

If all it takes is a bad call and "momentum" to beat the Rangers, when they've already held two comfortable leads, then they don't deserve to win, anyway.

Playoff wins are tough enough to come by and the games are close enough as it is; to have to beat the other team and the refs blowing a monster call can tilt a game just far enough to change the outcome. I don't get why that is such a confusing concept. Yes, championship teams battle through it. And when its just a bad penalty call that isn't on a play that directly leads to a goal, I can let it go. This was not that. The missed call was on an illegal play that directly caused the goal to be scored.

And it isn't just "momentum." It was the "momentum" and the goal.

At the end of regulation, the game was tied 4-4. The Kings were gift wrapped a goal by the refs to get to that score. Gift wrap the Rangers one goal in regulation to even it out, and regulation ends 5-4.

You should have ended your post at "championship teams battle through it" because that is exactly what many Rangers fans are refusing to accept.

Since 2012 I've watched the Kings play more playoff games than any other team in the league. In some of those games, they were the recipient of favorable officiating. In others, I was convinced that the officials were outright trying to make them lose. Their record in playoff series since that year is 9-1, with a Cup.

Championship teams battle through adversity, even if that adversity is tilted officiating.

The Kings have faced their fair share of bad calls in the past 3 years and they have a championship to show for it. They were on the wrong end of a lot of calls in this year's WCF and came out of it victorious.

Bad calls happen in every sport. Winners get through it; losers place blame upon it, no matter how hard that is for you to accept.

Yea, not at all comparable to your run of the mill "battling adversity" with just bad missed calls for or bad calls against; because the team has a chance to nullify the effect on a PK. This call directly changed the scoreboard. Might as well have started the third period with an automatic goal given to the Kings with how badly this was called. And I think you'd be hard pressed to have anyone believe that wouldn't be a major advantage to whichever team benefited from that. It is the equivalent of giving the Kings a 1 goal handicap for a game. Cool. Sounds great - where can I get one?

But you want to play this "champions battle through it" crap as if this is the norm for your Kings battling through all sorts of goals against like this one? Show me one as egregious as this in the Stanley Cup Finals in a year in which the Kings actually ended up the champions. Show me a non-call that directly allowed a goal to be scored on the same play - because of the illegal action that was not called. Preferably in a game that the Kings were dominating up to that point and which completely changed the complexion of the game. I'll wait.

As I already said, game 1 - total credit to the Kings for coming back and the Rangers blew it, and blew it long before the 3rd period. Can't give the same credit in this game. Rangers were dominating up to that point in the game, the Kings looked terrible, and the Rangers were holding a 2 goal lead much later than they were in the first game. But we'll never know what would have happened due to an absolutely terrible (non) call on the ice.

In fact, just last round the refs called back a goal that wasn't nearly as bad as this -- but called it the right way -- in the Kings favor in game 1. Wonder if you would have been screaming bloody murder had they allowed that Toews goal to stand.

But sure. Just battle through it. Keep riding that high horse.

 

[Richter Scale]

All of that said, if the Rangers come out and lie down the next two games, then yea -- I'll get behind the "you need to battle through it" line (in the context of the next games of the series). It happened and it sucks. But you let it simmer for a night, maybe the next day, and then move on (or use it as motivation in the next game).

But in the context of last night's game? Sorry. Not buying it. Playoff games are close enough and tough enough to win, you don't need to be playing another team with a one goal handicap for even a single game.

The Rangers have outplayed the Kings for 4 of 6 regulation periods and played the OT periods to a draw in my mind. Keep doing that and the series is still very much in play.

 

[Synergy27]

I seriously have no idea what Richards was doing last night.

Yeah. He was shockingly bad. I really have no idea what AV sees in him, particularly on the PP. The guy is the de facto leader of the team though, and has precious SCF experience. He's stuck in the lineup.

 

[GraveyTrain9]

woke up today feeling even worse about this than I did last night. Seriously, **** the NHL. This league is a farce and if I didn't love the SPORT as much as I do, I would never be able to bring myself to watch this horse ****.

 

[I Eat Crow]

Not going to panic until a loss at home. The Kings' luck will run out eventually.

 

[ReolverHF]

Had the night to sit on it. At the end of the day, they blew another 2-0 and 4-2 lead. Bad call or not, the 4th goal should have never happened either. Stupid morons fumbling with the puck in front of Hank, Gabby sitting right there puts it in.

Fact is, there are guys on the team playing like complete *******: Nash, Richards, Girardi, Staal... because of laziness and incompetance with the puck. I'd love to know their thought process on constantly throwing the puck up the middle of the ice after getting a little bit of forecheck pressure from the other team.

They need to play like they did in Game 6 against Montreal. They can't expect to play just 2 periods a night and expect Hank to save their *****.

 

[Holocene]

Staal was good last night. Girardi was awful again for the most part. He can't move the puck quickly and out of the zone and that results in us getting hemmed in for a little bit. Stralman was our best defenseman last night.

 

[ReggieDunlop68]

Good teams over come adversity.

Life is a *****, and its not fair. Bad calls, non-calls, etc. happen all the time in the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

If the Rangers are the real deal, they will rise above that call, if they aren't, they will have a lot of excuses to tell to their grandchildren.

The true team wins.

 

[TheTakedown]

The only thing you can do now is play angry and try to win some games. Nothing to really lose now after these frustrating loses

THis. I think they come out flying again...

Once thing I noticed is the Kings looked very fatigued within 15 minutes of the 3rd period. They're tired, and they are nowhere near as physically resiliant as the rangers are... Making them play defense last night absolutely killed them, and the rangers need more of that.

ALso, more crashing the net! Rebounds galore by Quick last night

 

[Brooklyndevil]

Richards seems to be more of a danger to the Rangers than the Kings. What do they do with him on Monday?

 

[Rangerfan4life90]

THis. I think they come out flying again...

Once thing I noticed is the Kings looked very fatigued within 15 minutes of the 3rd period. They're tired, and they are nowhere near as physically resiliant as the rangers are... Making them play defense last night absolutely killed them, and the rangers need more of that.

ALso, more crashing the net! Rebounds galore by Quick last night

That's my only hope at this point.

Would have been nice to win last night in the process of forcing the Kings to double OT.

Only way I get the taste of game 2 out of my mouth is to win both games 3 and 4.