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

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

We handled Philly's offense well, and they definitely have a high end group of forwards. Their defense is what did them in. LA does have a better blueline than the Flyers, but that's basically all Doughty. None of the other LA defenseman have impressed me that much (although Muzzin is dangerous offensively, and I like Martinez).

 

[Fleury4ever]

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

LMAO I just realized the guy screenshot alot of HFBoards posts on the article

Well, to be fair the guy who said Rick Nash sucks has a point...

 

[ImIdaho]

Can you believe there are people saying we are the ones acting snotty? Well, excuse us when everyone is acting like it's a ****ing forgone conclusion that the West is going to win the Cup; the same hive mind that automatically thought that once the Bruins were eliminated.

It's the same crap I had to hear about the West in 2011 only because of the Canucks. At least the Canucks dominated on all of the stat sheets. Here? We are almost a ****ing carbon copy of the Kings, yet..

Then again, how about the Pens blowing past by us or Montreal's unrivaled speed? Here's the ironic thing: now, we have users on the main board who can't stand it when we say we possess speed; the same jackasses that tried to use that card against us with regards to Montreal.

 

[RangerLifer]

Can you believe there are people saying we are the ones acting snotty? Well, excuse us when everyone is acting like it's a ****ing forgone conclusion that the West is going to win the Cup; the same hive mind that automatically thought that once the Bruins were eliminated.

It's the same crap I had to hear about the West in 2011 only because of the Canucks. At least the Canucks dominated on all of the stat sheets. Here? We are almost a ****ing carbon copy of the Kings, yet..

Then again, how about the Pens blowing past by us or Montreal's unrivaled speed? Here's the ironic thing: now, we have users on the main board who can't stand it when we say we possess speed; the same jackasses that tried to use that card against us with regards to Montreal.

But, wait! We only beat Montreal because they were gassed from playing Boston. And, remember now, this is important: Every team the Rangers eliminated in these playoffs didn't show up. Remember these facts and repeat them often. /sarcasm off

 

[Pizza]

What I'd really like to see around here are folks who don't whine about not being respected. Leave that to the other fan bases.

We'll get some respect if we win the Cup. Emphasis on some.

It's the NEW YORK Rangers. Everyone hates us. Just as it should be.

 

[bmr]

That's nice.

It's also nice you left out this years PO stats, where he's playing 21 games with a SV% of .906 this year, which brings his playoff career average down to .922. That's STILL higher than his regular season career numbers. .915 and .902 the last two years. He had one very good regular season.

Quick is not great and the Rangers have to remember that.

Every goalie can have a year that isn't as good as another, even Lundqvist. Most of the people in the league will take Quick top-5 if you ask them. The thing I like about Quick is his mental toughness - he always shakes off bad goals and keeps plugging away.

If you are a true hockey aficionado you would at least be able to acknowledge that Quick's performance in 2012 will go down as one of the best ever.

 

[Thirty One]

This might not be the best time to bring this up but I don't know why this is such a shock. I am NOT speaking to you directly here when I say THIS BOARD gave the team no respect almost the entire year. Perhaps the posters on the "main board" just read this board during the pre-trade deadline threads. If ANYBODY dared to post anything that resembled a prediction the Rangers could make the Stanley Cup finals (Not even winning it just making it) they were mocked with posts like "Yeah,anything can happen lolzzzz". The same arguments those posters used is now being used by posters from the other boards.

Seriously, look at the trade deadline threads, the St. Louis threads, AND the just how good are the Rangers thread. The same posters who are now acting offended were the one's who are using the arguments OTHER FANS ARE NOW USING!!!!! Compare the posts from those threads to the playoff thread.

To some posters "our boys" got no respect or little respect on this board for 8 months.

This "we are the victims" in this lack of respect game is bogus. We aren't the victims, THIS board perpetrated a lot of the myths about this team you are reading about on the playoff board.

+1

The outrage is a bit disingenuous in many cases.

 

[Son of Steinbrenner]

We are like a family, and in any family there will be disagreements, arguments, and worse. But it ALWAYS stays in the family - have you learned nothing living in this area?

We can say anything we want about each other, but when someone else criticizes, it's time to stick together.

I don't disagree with you but we should not act so shocked the team isn't respected by posters from other teams. The fact that posters on our board are complaining about it when 7 weeks ago they were saying the same things is just nuts. Instead of responding to those fans with "hey I thought that too but here is why I was wrong" they are acting offended that it is being said now.

Part of being a "family" of fans is telling our sibling posters things they don't want to hear. I shouldn't get into this now but someone needed to say it. The arguments by the "hivemind" of the main board are rooted in our board. I don't know why posters are acting shocked and offended. That's my only point. It's not to single out a person for being wrong. I'm ****ing wrong way more than I'm right. I would never call out individual posters on our board 2 days before the Stanley Cup finals. I am not looking to blow up someone's high that this team is in the finals. I am really just pointing out the craziness in being shocked and amazed this team is getting no respect.

Honestly, I know every single poster on this board wants the same thing but the indignation is a little tough to stomach. That's it.

Really, it doesn't matter what we think. If the Rangers want respect they have the ultimate chance to earn it over the next two weeks.

 

[BlueshirtBlitz]

Every goalie can have a year that isn't as good as another, even Lundqvist. Most of the people in the league will take Quick top-5 if you ask them. The thing I like about Quick is his mental toughness - he always shakes off bad goals and keeps plugging away.

If you are a true hockey aficionado you would at least be able to acknowledge that Quick's performance in 2012 will go down as one of the best ever.

Yes, his 2012 was fantastic and he was ridiculous.

But it's not 2012, and Jon Quick is not Henrik Lundqvist.

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

+1

The outrage is a bit disingenuous in many cases.

Any chance you have the percentages we win broken down to each game/team? That was interesting to see for the Pitt series.

 

[ImIdaho]

+1

The outrage is a bit disingenuous in many cases.

Sad but true.

Quick was the ***** against San Jose and Chicago, but since his team finally decided to turn it on on the right time, he's still considered a great playoff performer.

Rangers can't even get one goal against the Pens, there were still a few posters trying to blame the lackluster performance and goal droughts on Lundy.

 

[chosen]

I disagree. I think if they focus on the right players that they can completely disrupt the King's style of play, rendering it ineffective.

Focusing on Carter, who is the focal point of the King's 2nd line, will severely affect the quality of chances his line mates have.
Focusing on Gaborik and Brown will affect the effectiveness of Kopitar, whose options will be to force passes or shoot himself.
Focusing on Doughty will stifle their blue line offense. Doughty is a huge part of their success.

Subban was as significant as Doughty for the Habs blue line defense. They looked to him to shoot. Sure some of their other defenders shot, and i'm sure we will see players like Martinez and Muzzin shoot occasionally, but no more than Markov and Boulloin did for the Habs. Stifle Doughty, stifle the defense.

Stifle Gaborik and Brown, you stifle Kopitar.
Stifle Carter, you stifle their entire 2nd line.

I think you really can focus on a handful of their guys and it'll completely throw them off. It's just about focusing on the right guys. The Hawks doubled up on Kopitar, that opened up Gabby. Hawks dd a **** job on Doughty, too.

You make it all sound so simple. Can L.A. do the same to N.Y.?

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

Before the St. Louis trade, I was expecting maybe a 2nd/3rd round trip, but the trade changed everything. That turned the Rangers into a legitimate threat. The difference between Callahan and MSL is, clearly, astronomical.

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

You make it all sound so simple. Can L.A. do the same to N.Y.?

Yes. They're the team most capable of doing this out of the 4 that we've faced.

But realistically, do you think they can do that four times in 2 weeks, having played this much hockey?

Seems like the series will be harder for them to win, than it will be for us. That's just my opinion though. Rangers have really disappointed in years past right when we thought things were going to turn a corner. I'm not saying that will happen this year, but i'm not discounting any possibility.

My personal opinion, is that the team's would be relatively equal having equal rest/energy. My opinion with fatigue taken into account is that the Kings will be fighting elements that have parabolic effects.

It's not gonna be a linear regression in terms of energy for them. Once they run out of gas, it'll be really hard to muster up a formidable effort. Are they close to that stage of fatigue? I think so, doesn't mean i'm right.

They've played a lot of hockey. I think 21 games is really their death sentence, no matter how good of a match up we could potentially be for them winning.

 

[9darter]

Rangers hockey in June.
Just saying. Feels good.
Say it again:
Rangers hockey in June.

 

[chosen]

Yes. They're the team most capable of doing this out of the 4 that we've faced.

But realistically, do you think they can do that four times in 2 weeks, having played this much hockey?

Seems like the series will be harder for them to win, than it will be for us. That's just my opinion though. Rangers have really disappointed in years past right when we thought things were going to turn a corner. I'm not saying that will happen this year, but i'm not discounting any possibility.

My personal opinion, is that the team's would be relatively equal having equal rest/energy. My opinion with fatigue taken into account is that the Kings will be fighting elements that have parabolic effects.

It's not gonna be a linear regression in terms of energy for them. Once they run out of gas, it'll be really hard to muster up a formidable effort. Are they close to that stage of fatigue? I think so, doesn't mean i'm right.

They've played a lot of hockey. I think 21 games is really their death sentence, no matter how good of a match up we could potentially be for them winning.

If you truly believe all this, I assume you have a nice sized bet on the finals since you will be getting huge odds.

 

[Jersey Girl]

I don't disagree with you but we should not act so shocked the team isn't respected by posters from other teams. The fact that posters on our board are complaining about it when 7 weeks ago they were saying the same things is just nuts. Instead of responding to those fans with "hey I thought that too but here is why I was wrong" they are acting offended that it is being said now.

Part of being a "family" of fans is telling our sibling posters things they don't want to hear. I shouldn't get into this now but someone needed to say it. The arguments by the "hivemind" of the main board are rooted in our board. I don't know why posters are acting shocked and offended. That's my only point. It's not to single out a person for being wrong. I'm ****ing wrong way more than I'm right. I would never call out individual posters on our board 2 days before the Stanley Cup finals. I am not looking to blow up someone's high that this team is in the finals. I am really just pointing out the craziness in being shocked and amazed this team is getting no respect.

Honestly, I know every single poster on this board wants the same thing but the indignation is a little tough to stomach. That's it.

Really, it doesn't matter what we think. If the Rangers want respect they have the ultimate chance to earn it over the next two weeks.

Meh. I think you're trying to connect dots that have nothing to do with one another.

EVERY team on this board has the same kind of rants we have on our board. If you think we're special...we're not. Check out this thread from the Kings board, and there are many more like them:

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1622923

Like I said, there are many more like them all over their board. And all over every other team's boards too. Are you taking those negative posts by Kings (or Flyer, or Penguins, or Canadiens) posters and using them against them? Probably not, because you don't care about that - and fans of other teams don't care about our internal posts either.

A lot of national media is saying our chances against LA are small, and I promise you it has NOTHING to do with Ranger fans' posts on HF boards, or any other boards for that matter.

Bottom line is a lot of people think the Kings (and the Blackhawks, and the Ducks, and the Blues, etc.) are better than us because of what they've seen on the ice, not because of what they read in a forum - and hopefully over the next two weeks our boys prove them wrong.

 

[Holocene]

Meh. I think you're trying to connect dots that have nothing to do with one another.

EVERY team on this board has the same kind of rants we have on our board. If you think we're special...we're not. Check out this thread for the Kings board, and there are many more like them:

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1622923

Like I said, there are many more like them all over their board. And all over every other team's boards too. Are you taking those negative posts by Kings (or Flyer, or Penguins, or Canadiens) posters and using them against them? Probably not, because you don't care about that - and fans of other teams don't care about our internal posts either.

A lot of national media is saying our chances against LA are small, and I promise you it has NOTHING to do with Ranger fans' posts on HF boards, or any other boards for that matter.

"...now it's win or whine." Yeah, they sound exactly like our fans haha.

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

If you truly believe all this, I assume you have a nice sized bet on the finals since you will be getting huge odds.

I never bet real money on teams that I like. It curses them. The strangest things happen sometimes that are unexplainable. I justify the unexplainable with poor betting karma for the teams that I like.

But I do believe the Kings have many factors going against them. Failure to recognize them as legitimate concerns for them is naive.

-Fatigue (lack of rest, most games played in the season)
-Worse goalie, statistically
-Above average power play due for a steep regression to the mean
-Less disciplined team, statistically proven by most average PIM per game
-The tendency to put themselves in an awful position (Down 3-0, Down 3-2, Allowing a game 7 when up 3-1)
-Very physical team. For 21 games they've gotten a lot of physical wear and tear to go in addition to the fatigue.

All are really hard to ignore.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

I've seen fan-made videos with more feeling.

 

[chosen]

I never bet real money on teams that I like. It curses them. The strangest things happen sometimes that are unexplainable. I justify the unexplainable with poor betting karma for the teams that I like.

But I do believe the Kings have many factors going against them. Failure to recognize them as legitimate concerns for them is naive.

-Fatigue (lack of rest, most games played in the season)
-Worse goalie, statistically
-Above average power play due for a steep regression to the mean
-Less disciplined team, statistically proven by most average PIM per game
-The tendency to put themselves in an awful position (Down 3-0, Down 3-2, Allowing a game 7 when up 3-1)
-Very physical team. For 21 games they've gotten a lot of physical wear and tear to go in addition to the fatigue.

All are really hard to ignore.

You certainly have convinced yourself but for every plus it is easy to put up a minus.

My last hockey wager was 30 to win before the season in 1994 on Vancouver at 50-1. Made for an interesting final.

 

[haohmaru]

The Kings have played a lot of hockey. A lot.

I've been listening to Sirius NHL and Mad Dog on Sirius and pretty much all fans not of the NYR persuasion and the "experts" are all saying the same thing: Kings in 5 or Kings in 6.

Interesting. Honestly, I've watched nearly every playoff game and I'm not impressed to the point that I'm thinking the Rangers are 100% doomed. They aren't.

Keys for me:

Kopitar. Who's going out there to shadow this guy? Stepan with a dose of Moore and the 4th line? I don't know that Stepan can play him evenly or close to evenly. Might be trouble for us.

Doughty - considering what we got from Mac Truck last series, I'm hoping that he can keep his game elevated and match DD. If he can do that, we're definitely in the series.

Goalies - from what I've seen, Quick hasn't been terribly spectacular. I think the Habs backup was playing better, to be perfectly honest with you.

And all of these questions about OMG! How are we going to deal with them done the middle. I mean, that's fair enough, but how are THEY going to deal with our speed on the Wings? Who on the Kings is dealing with Kreider? Hagelin? Zooks? Personally, I think our top 6 > their top 6 and I think our goalie > their goalie. Their forwards > our forwards. But, you know what? That's exactly what I said about the Penguins.

I hope the Kings take don't take us seriously and read the predictions.

I think this series goes 7 games. And it's 50/50 after that.

 

[Jersey Girl]

"...now it's win or whine." Yeah, they sound exactly like our fans haha.

Here is a Kings PGT from a loss to the Penguins. Same kind of rants as in our threads, just different names.

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1594611

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

You certainly have convinced yourself but for every plus it is easy to put up a minus.

My last hockey wager was 30 to win before the season in 1994 on Vancouver at 50-1. Made for an interesting final.

Minuses for us:

-Lack of offensive efficiency and consistency. (But both teams struggle with consistency)
-Lack of Stanley Cup experience. We have 3 players who have experienced this.
-Smaller and less physical (although we are statistically above average in terms of hits given this post season)

That's really all I can think of as weaknesses to this team heading against the Kings. Kings take away the neutral zone so it will be hard for the Rangers to play a transition game unless the Kings have defensive break downs. We play well dumping and chasing, as we saw in game 6 of ECF, which is what the Kings will try to force us to play.

 

[Pizza]

I never bet real money on teams that I like. It curses them. The strangest things happen sometimes that are unexplainable. I justify the unexplainable with poor betting karma for the teams that I like.

But I do believe the Kings have many factors going against them. Failure to recognize them as legitimate concerns for them is naive.

-Fatigue (lack of rest, most games played in the season)
-Worse goalie, statistically
-Above average power play due for a steep regression to the mean
-Less disciplined team, statistically proven by most average PIM per game
-The tendency to put themselves in an awful position (Down 3-0, Down 3-2, Allowing a game 7 when up 3-1)
-Very physical team. For 21 games they've gotten a lot of physical wear and tear to go in addition to the fatigue.

All are really hard to ignore.

I think the Kings will quickly disabuse you and anyone else of the notion that have many or any weaknesses.

I think we have a better chance than most are giving us, but this will truly be the toughest challenge the Rangers will face. The Kings are just that good. They absolutely proved it again last night. Still, I'm confident. I think we have a good team too. One things for sure, if we somehow come out on top, anyone saying that some how we are not deserving is just another dope you can ignore.