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Series Talk: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. New York Rangers | Eastern Conference Finals

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Machinehead said:
We're going to be locked in a cage with a lion the next 4-7 games. This isn't a hockey team, it's a Gundam. The Lightning don't feast on the weak; they take from the strong.

At least once in this series, we're gonna look like we've never played hockey before. Don't forget what we've already done when that happens.

If folks respond with "blow it up, they can't handle it, not playoff performers, etc." I hope they're not taken seriously. I certainly won't.
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Kind of my feeling. Lightening are here to take care of business. Rangers are just happy to be here.
 
TheDirtyH said:
all the talk is on vasilevsky, but imho Kucherov is the scariest player in the league to be facing in the postseason at any position. I'd rather be looking down McDavid than playoff Kuch. Vasilevsky was great against Florida, no doubt, but Kuch demoralized them.

We have a player of that caliber (or near enough to it) too, but ours has been a flat tire this postseason. I really don't like our chances if Panarin can't find his game against Tampa. But maybe he will!
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Kucherov was looking identical to Panarin in the first series and turned it on against Florida.

They will both have their turnovers and lax moments..... Which is fine IF you're producing.

We really do need Panarin being a magician.
 
duhmetreE said:
Kucherov was looking identical to Panarin in the first series and turned it on against Florida.

They will both have their turnovers and lax moments..... Which is fine IF you're producing.

We really do need Panarin being a magician.
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I though Kucherov clowned on the leafs too lol

But I guess the larger point is that Tampa is not a team where our 11 million dollar man can not show up and we squeak by. JMHO.
 
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TheDirtyH said:
I though Kucherov clowned on the leafs too lol

But I guess the larger point is that Tampa is not a team where our 11 million dollar man can not show up and we squeak by. JMHO.
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He was Panarin-esque in that sense.

He had egregious plays but ends up with 2-3pts games and is lethal on the PP.

We shit on Panarin for the same thing. Kucherov's even-strength play was way stronger against Florida. Maybe it was some urgency/pressure because Point was missing.

To be honest though, Tampa can't win without Kucherov right now because they are no where as deep as us offensively IMO. We have been winning without Panarin playing at the top of his game.

If Panarin gets going, we are by far the deepest/scariest team in the playoffs IMO
 
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NYR94 said:
Should be a good litmus test for this team whether or not they beat the Lightning. Tampa is a significant step above Pittsburgh and Carolina IMO.
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They are, but I think we might be a better matchup than any other team against them.
Toronto had the offense and the goaltending but not enough defense.

Florida was all finese offense and no way to score vs vasy.

We've got size and finese. We score in different ways, and we've got far better D than either of those teams.
Plus we've got the better goalie.
 
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Richard Banger said:
Kind of my feeling. Lightening are here to take care of business. Rangers are just happy to be here.
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I think we're one of the tougher matchups for them relatively speaking and we can push them into a series because we have weapons. When Zibanejad is going off he's as good as anybody in the league.

We just went up against the league's best PK and went "lol ok" so we always have that ability to score a few and turn it over to Igor.

But this team? Nah, they're the Penguins but better and also the Hurricanes but better.

We need zero injuries, we can't afford them getting a bounce every game like Pittsburgh did, and Zibanejad needs to stay on his binge.

Then we might have a chance to steal this one.
 
Probably if he's ready for Game 2. He hasn't practiced at all. Just speculation on my part but I doubt he comes right back in without practicing
 
Harder than Carolina but easier than Pittsburgh. Would be surprised if this went less than seven games.
 
Fatsam98 said:
Same here. Although I told my 6 year old he can stay up with me on Friday for Game 2
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Lol same! My kid is 6 and cries when I tell him he has to go to bed during a Rangers game.

He then gets up at 6 am and runs downstairs to watch the highlights on YouTube.
 
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ShestyNYR said:
Does anyone have any statistics about how much a layoff effects a team heading into the next round? Tampa won't have played in 9 full days by the time the puck drops. in 2019 Boston had almost 11 days of rest between the the ECF and SCF and they managed to go 7 games vs St Louis...
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I just saw them on here today somewhere. It’s way better for the rested team historically.
 
NYR94 said:
Should be a good litmus test for this team whether or not they beat the Lightning. Tampa is a significant step above Pittsburgh and Carolina IMO.
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It is generally said, each progressive playoff series gets that much more difficult. But I have to disagree that Tampa is a step above the Canes.

It's surprising a lot of fans here don't hold the Canes in high regard after our Game 7 win. They were by far our toughest opponent to date. I don't know how anyone can say the Pens were stronger than them.

Prior to Game 7, there was some real doubt we would be able to beat the Canes in Raleigh. And for good reason. Hell, I was even sure we could do it. They had stifled us but good in Carolina. We had to play our best game of the year, to even have a chance to advance. And we were also very fortunate, we capitalized on some dumb penalties early by the Canes. You ask me, this whole game was decided by the dumb penalty Aho took in front of his own net, 3 minutes in. He had position on Copp, so there was no need for the blatant hook. That put us on the PP where we scored the first goal. And those who score the first goal, has won every game in this series.

The Canes were able to slow our attack, by an aggressive, in your face, style of play. Everyone in hockey agreed they were the strongest, most aggressive team on the forecheck this year. And they gave us fits this series, and also in the regular season.

Tampa poses no such threat. They will not slow our attack. We will have much more freedom to make plays and forecheck. Vasilevskiy will be pressured and tested often. Much more than we could with Raanta. The number of quality chances will go up significantly against Tampa. Panarin will wake up out of his slumber, because now he will have time and space to make plays with the puck.

You ask me, Tampa is a step down from playing the Canes. And with home ice advantage, where we are very tough to beat, in front of the Garden faithful, I see no way Tampa can beat us. And I wasn't able to say that about the Canes.

We are heading to the Stanley Cup Finals. I feel really confident about this for the reasons stated.
 
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