Pre-Game Talk: Stanley Cup Final: New York Rangers vs. Los Angeles Kings

[Riverdale]

No way dude that Eastern Conference speed. Western Conference speed is on a whole other level.

When they air western conference games here on tv they slow them down so our feeble, eastern conference minds can understand what is going on.

 

[Clown Fiesta]

Well said.

Reminds me of how I saw so many "last 40 games" comparisons between the Rangers and Kings/Blackhawks. Would've helped if their strength of scheduled were somehow incorporated as well because the only thing I know is the Rangers played some punching bags during that time.

I'm sure the Kings and Hawks didn't face any lesser opponents in their final 40 games...

 

[DutchShamrock]

I love the mainboard posts.

"Rangers still aren't a contender" and "Rangers got lucky to beat Montreal"

Yeah, we are now referred to as "the cheaters". I'm ranger fan and obviously biased but I can't for the life of me figure out how we cheated in that series. All the diving and missed calls and we still get that label...


On a finals note, rangers must, MUST rebound after goals. LA has a knack for putting up 2 or 3 quickly. They've done in multiple games every round. NY has to be mentally tough, put the goal against behind them and really focus on the next shift because LA is coming in for the kill.

 

[yrrebbor]

May be the defining series of Henrik's career.

It is. If they win, he's the greatest goaltender since Roy, and the one NY goalie better than Richter.

Andrew Gross @AGrossRecord · 12h
Heard there were earthquakes in LA today.

The Rangers...

 

[DutchShamrock]

I'm sure the Kings and Hawks didn't face any lesser opponents in their final 40 games...

And isn't 40 games plus the playoffs a decent enough sample size to round out the highs and lows?

 

[Miamipuck]

And isn't 40 games plus the playoffs a decent enough sample size to round out the highs and lows?

No don't you know man the Eastern conference is the AHL in comparison, ask impartial Devils fans..

 

[Jersey Girl]

Rangers are faster than LA. Need to use that to our advantage and not allow LA to neutralize our speed, the way they neutralized San Jose's speed in games 4-7.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

No don't you know man the Eastern conference is the AHL in comparison, ask impartial Devils fans..

I mean, its fun to joke about it, but I dont think you'll find many good arguments that the east was better than the west this year as a whole.

 

[Infinitum Vitae*]

I wonder how fast the west is with actual defense and good goaltending

 

[gary laser eyes]

Another key for the Rangers will be the match-ups. I would be salivating if I were the Rangers at whatever they throw out on their third pairing. Greene-Mitchell-Schultz-Regehr are all physical slow guys. You need to beat them in the transition game. If Greene continues to play upwards of 14 mins per game there will be plenty of opportunities for one of Kreider-Hagelin-Pouliot-St Louis-Nash-Zucc-Dorsett to blow by him. Use the speed. Get odd-man rushes. Draw penalties.

 

[Infinitum Vitae*]

I mean, its fun to joke about it, but I dont think you'll find many good arguments that the east was better than the west this year as a whole.

But how many years has the east dominated the west?

 

[Henrik4Hart]

No Weekend Home Games

Going Cross Country is brutal, Especially for a 2-2-1-1-1 with this schedule for Games 2 to 5. It is asinine.

This is has to be the 1st time the NBA Finals Coincided with the Stanley Cup Finals game for game Post Lockout

 

[Miamipuck]

I mean, its fun to joke about it, but I dont think you'll find many good arguments that the east was better than the west this year as a whole.

See when you say it's better as a whole it's not what I would call insulting analysis. It's a correct observation.

However the notion that it's the step child and that the Eastern Conference is the AHL or worse, just fits the really piss poor analysis/narrative I have been reading at a so called hockey site. Seriously, most of the people on the main board know as much about hockey as my beloved Pekingese.

 

[KreiMeARiver*]

 

[BlueshirtBlitz]

East is not better than the West, but the only edge the Kings have over the Rangers is offense.

Quick is painfully overrated-- this isn't a battle of the "best goalies in the world," it's a battle of the best goalie in the world vs. one of the myriad of pretenders the internet crowns the best because they refuse to acknowledge "Lundpad's" greatness.

Besides Doughty, Rangers D plays better defensively than the rest of LA. If McD plays like he did in the MTL series, it's not even guaranteed that Doughty is the best D-man in the series.

Offense no doubt goes to the Kings. But Rangers win the Special Teams battle, with a better PK and a LA PP that is ripe to regress.

 

[RangerLifer]

This just made me laugh out loud

Me too!

 

[Jersey Girl]

No Weekend Home Games

Going Cross Country is brutal, Especially for a 2-2-1-1-1 with this schedule for Games 2 to 5. It is asinine.

All good for us, different than the Pittsburgh series.

WE are the team that is rested, for a change. Other than that both teams have to play the same schedule.

 

[chosen]

East is not better than the West, but the only edge the Kings have over the Rangers is offense.

Quick is painfully overrated-- this isn't a battle of the "best goalies in the world," it's a battle of the best goalie in the world vs. one of the myriad of pretenders the internet crowns the best because they refuse to acknowledge "Lundpad's" greatness.

Besides Doughty, Rangers D plays better defensively than the rest of LA. If McD plays like he did in the MTL series, it's not even guaranteed that Doughty is the best D-man in the series.

Offense no doubt goes to the Kings. But Rangers win the Special Teams battle, with a better PK and a LA PP that is ripe to regress.

Why will LA power play regress but Rangers PK won't?

What is basis for this?

 

[kovazub94]

everytime the Hawks put fast guys out there, they ate the kings alive. everytime the hawks had slower guys out there the kings ate them alive.

key to this series is keeping your feet moving.

If Montreal was able to eliminate Boston, the Rangers could do it too against LA.

 

[poeman]

you guys saw this?

http://nyrangersblog.com/uncategori...angry-about-the-rangers-success-you-guys.html

People are REALLY Angry About Rangers Success (lol at tweets)

 

[*Bob Richards*]

That's always been the book on Quick... shoot low blocker side from 190 feet away

This is awesome.

 

[Miamipuck]

Why will LA power play regress but Rangers PK won't?

What is basis for this?

Here 2nd page of this thread:

Big reason I'll be going for LA:

Montreal's powerplay was 26.3% in the playoffs going into the Rangers' series (compared to 17.2% in the regular season). Went 8.7% against the Rangers.

 

[FJB]

I hope for a long series, but I also hope for a DISCIPLINED Rangers' team. No stupid Dorsett/Pouliot brain farts please!

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

Chosen, I see your argument about Kopitar. But as I said, Kopitar isn't scoring goals. 5 goals in 3 series. 0 goals in the last 7 (maybe more) games. My whole point was to say that my belief will be that the Rangers focus on containing others - like Doughty and Carter. They could focus on Gaborik and Brown instead of Kopitar and that would likely mitigate the entire line. Take away Kopitar's options and force him to beat you with his shot.

As I said, Kopitar is usually the guy who has relative success against us. My opinion of why that is is because the Rangers likely focus on the players on his line rather than him.

He's a great player, but he is in a scoring slump. No goals in 7 games? Our fan base killed Nash for not scoring in the Flyer's series. Went ballistic when he didn't score in both the Flyers and Penguins series. Take away his options and I think that line, more or less, becomes ineffective.

Either way, Raspewtin said that the last few games they have 2 forwards who are averaging under 5 minutes a game. That means they're rolling out 3 lines, more or less. If we put our best defensive pairing and defensive minded forward group, we would essentially be forcing their secondary players to put the puck behind Henrik.

I'm comfortable with that. Kings are no where near as good playing 5 v 5 hockey as they are on the powerplay. We were the most disciplined team of the final 4. They were the least disciplined, I believe.

Take away Kopitar's options, that line becomes ineffective. For Carter's line, take him out of the equation by putting someone to frustrate him, that line becomes ineffective too. I'm fine with letting their 3rd line become the focal point to score goals this series.

 

[aufheben]

This isn't gonna be like with Subban, Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin where they have to focus on 1 or 2 players. The Kings are a very deep team that will require a team effort defensively.