Stanley Cup Final: Rangers vs. Kings

soxhop411 · Jun 2, 2014

Someone needs to explain why games 3 and 4 are on NBCSN. Shouldn't ALL of these games be on basic cable?

Nomar813 · Jun 2, 2014

They wouldn't want to preempt NBC's glorious Monday and Wednesday prime time lineups, which include... has anyone seen anything on NBC other than sports in the last decade?

Stanley Steamer · Jun 2, 2014

The Western Conference final was the de facto Stanley Cup. This should just be a coronation. (Get it?.....Kings!)
I don't even think the ghost of St. Louis' mom can affect the outcome.
Too bad about our B's. They probably could've given LA a series.

kenneycb · Jun 2, 2014

Nomar813 said:
They wouldn't want to preempt NBC's glorious Monday and Wednesday prime time lineups, which include... has anyone seen anything on NBC other than sports in the last decade?

Considering they lead in the 18-49 demo, yes, yes they have.

Titoschew · Jun 2, 2014

No Doc on the call Wednesday night. Death in the family, he'll be sashaying back on Saturday night.

RedOctober3829 · Jun 2, 2014

Everybody is underselling the Rangers' chances in this series. Henrik is playing at an even more elite level that he usually does. He can steal 1 or even 2 games in this series. LA is big, strong, and fast but so are the Rangers. Hagelin, St. Louis, Kreider, Zuccarello all have great speed that will test LA. The addition of Kreider has greatly improved their offense and Rick Nash has begun to play better around the net in addition to his increased physical presence. The third line of Brassard, Zuccarello, and Benoit Pouliot has been on fire this postseason having combined for 12 goals.

I am still picking LA in 6 because I think LA is the better overall team but to think that the Kings should just roll over them because the West is better is wrong.

Monbo Jumbo · Jun 2, 2014

Refs announced.

Steve Kozari, Wes McCauley, Dan O'Halloran, and Brad Watson.

johnmd20 · Jun 2, 2014

kenneycb said:
Considering they lead in the 18-49 demo, yes, yes they have.

In fairness, that's 100% to do with the NFL, the Olympics, and The Voice. It has absolutely nothing to do with their scripted programming in any way whatsoever. So the point kind of stands.

McDrew · Jun 2, 2014

Quick (and much of the team) has been there before, and I think that means they have a slight edge. I think each team clearly wins 2, but then Quick steals 2 more to Lundqvist's 1. LA in 7 (Kopitar)

cshea · Jun 2, 2014

Quick has been pretty awful for LA. He would scare me if I was them.

cshea · Jun 2, 2014

Even with Quick's troubles, I'll say LA in 5. Hank may steal a game or two, but LA is the better team pretty much across the board.

soxhop411 · Jun 2, 2014

Dennis Bernstein ‏@DennisTFP 2h
Less than 3,000 tix per game available on Stub Hub for all Rangers home SC final. Lowest price for any tix: $1045.50 (417 Row 7)

johnmd20 · Jun 3, 2014

soxhop411 said:
Dennis Bernstein ‏@DennisTFP 2h
Less than 3,000 tix per game available on Stub Hub for all Rangers home SC final. Lowest price for any tix: $1045.50 (417 Row 7)

Those Stubhub prices are awesome. Some are asking 5 figures and up and up and up.

Titoschew · Jun 3, 2014

Quick has been bad, downright awful at times, and if I am LA, that scares me. I think the grind of things to this point is about even for both. Series starts to tip in NY's direction with their fourth line contributions and the King. Oh, and positive vibes from Mrs. St. Louis. Rangers in 6.

j44thor · Jun 3, 2014

Faceoffs could loom large in the Finals. NYR are collectively one of the worst faceoff teams compared to the LAK who are one of the best. Kopitar in particular should feast on the likes of Stepan and Richards who are both sub 50% on draws. LA is very good at generating offense from the blue line, if they can consistently win offensive zone draws that could be a huge problem for NYR.

johnmd20 · Jun 3, 2014

Kings are a pretty big favorite at -170. That seems a bit high but the western team should have been a favorite. The Rangers at +155 are a decent value, especially in hockey, where a couple of lucky bounces could be the difference between winning and losing.

TFP · Jun 3, 2014

I'm not going to lie, this series is giving off big reminders of the Bruins - Canucks in 2011. Highly favorite Western Conference team with a less than rock solid goalie, Eastern conference team with 4 deep lines, adversity experience, and a veteran trying to win a final Cup (Recchi/St. Louis). I could easily see the Rangers going down early and crawling back to a 7 game series win. People are seriously underestimating what they bring to the table.

Plus, Alain Vigneault's involved. For better or worse.

Ferm Sheller · Jun 3, 2014

That Vancouver team was soft and entitled. LA is neither of those things. I know what you're saying, but I think the situations are only somewhat analogous.

PedroSpecialK · Jun 3, 2014

Agreed Ferm - LA's size and tenacity up front will be a huge factor against a D-corps that, aside from Girardi/McDonagh, doesn't really have the answer. Staal hasn't been the same since his concussion woes, and Diaz/Klein/Strålman aren't exactly stalwarts on the back end.

In particular, on top of Brown/Kopitar/Stoll, King and Pearson will make life miserable for NYR's d-corps. They haven't faced a team with that kind of forechecking aggression yet, and Hank will have to be Herculean (dare I say Thimas-esque) for the Rangers to withstand that kind of pressure.

On the flip side, if the Rags can get a couple of Zuccarello/Hagelin/Kreider on against Matt Greene LA could be exposed, but their center play is so responsible that I can see most of those chances being kept to the wings/corners.

LAK in 6

TFP · Jun 3, 2014

My analogy was a clumsy one (I'm in London and drunk...so sue me), but I just wanted to point out that it's not ridiculous to think the Rangers might give them a go of it here. LAK in 6 is a very reasonable outcome.

Dummy Hoy · Jun 3, 2014

Quick's numbers have not been good, but I think it's going a bit far to say he's been terrible. I realize long time UMass hater Ryan Lambert gets a national platform to shit on Quick (and again- his numbers have not been good), but he's getting the job done against far superior opponents than the Rags have faced. In three rounds quick has faced the numbers 1, 2, and 6 best scoring offenses (by g/g in the regular season) and has been the winning goalie in each series on the road in 7. On the eye test, while he's not been dominating, he's had a few spectacular timely saves that kept his team in games or kept the game from ending. Lundquist is the better goalie no doubt, but I think Quick will be fine.

Kings in 6, another Cup presentation on the road.

cshea · Jun 3, 2014

I hate agreeing with Lambert, but the Kings are winning in spite of Quick. They've caught fire offensively, which has masked some of Quick's struggles. After averaging 2.42 goals per game in the regular season, they've jumped more than a goal per game in the playoffs to 3.48. Their shooting percentage has spiked to 11.3% in the playoffs, from 7.6% in the regular season. All 3 teams the Kings have faced have been below average in net, so Quick hasn't had to do much stealing.

Dummy Hoy · Jun 4, 2014

I think you're missing my point (or more likely I'm doing a shitty job of making it).

While Quick's numbers are not good, he's been victimized by top notch offensive teams while his team seems to be more concerned with offense (and thus selling him out?)- his whole team has sucked at defense at times. Can't blame just him for the first three games of the Sharks series, and he followed those by allowing 2 goals in final 3 games. Plus, I will note again that he has been very good at certain times, especially ones that seem momentous. Following that dogshit weird hopper to Sharp, he stops 33 of next 34 to win in OT. The one timer on Seabrook (?) in game 2 that kept it 2-0 when they later came back was huge. Stopping the Getzlaf PK early in game 7?

While he hasn't been nearly as good as LA would hope, there's a lot going on beyond the numbers. He'll be ok.

ifmanis5 · Jun 4, 2014

Nice open. Is Kenny Albert really on the call? No Doc?

EDIT: Oh, he's filling in as Doc has a death in the family. Too bad he's not as tough as Simmons.

johnmd20 · Jun 4, 2014

ifmanis5 said:
Nice open. Is Kenny Albert really on the call? No Doc?

EDIT: Oh, he's filling in as Doc has a death in the family. Too bad he's not as tough as Simmons.

Some people are pros. Some are not. Simmons is a pro.

McDrew · Jun 4, 2014

Both teams have had some really bad defensive zone turnovers so far.

johnmd20 · Jun 4, 2014

Pretty active first period. Lots of chances for both teams. More chances for the Rangers. No goals.

jsinger121 · Jun 4, 2014

Pouliot?

Dollar · Jun 4, 2014

McDrew · Jun 4, 2014

Balls.

TSC · Jun 4, 2014

BALLS!!!

timlinin8th · Jun 4, 2014

Balls?!?!!

ifmanis5 · Jun 4, 2014

Bruins-level turnover.

johnmd20 · Jun 4, 2014

First blood, Rangers.

Jack Sox · Jun 4, 2014

Pouliot - always so enticing. That burst is something special, too bad it's always just flashes with that player.

johnmd20 · Jun 4, 2014

Own goal, short handed. Brutal to LA.

TSC · Jun 4, 2014

Damn. Rangers taking it to LA early.

soxhop411 · Jun 4, 2014

Way to show up kings....

cshea · Jun 4, 2014

The Kings are quickly going to find out that playing catch-up against Lundqvist is a lot harder than playing catch-up against Corey Crawford/Fredrik Andersen/John Gibson/Anti Niemi/Alex Stalock.

TSC · Jun 4, 2014

cshea said:
The Kings are quickly going to find out that playing catch-up against Lundqvist is a lot harder than playing catch-up against Corey Crawford/Fredrik Andersen/John Gibson/Anti Niemi/Alex Stalock.

That's one way to do it..

johnmd20 · Jun 4, 2014

Horrible Ranger turnover, good conversation by LA. 2-1. Pretty good period thus far.

The Napkin · Jun 4, 2014

Yeah, that really was a brutal turnover to give the Kings some life

SidelineCameras · Jun 4, 2014

Long Island buddy posted "great start Rangers!" on Facebook about 12 seconds before the Kings goal.

Important lesson: Facebook is not a Gamerthread.

johnmd20 · Jun 4, 2014

Rangers had a lot of chances that period. Up 2-1 was probably the worst case.(although their 2nd goal was lucky) Still a great period.

cshea · Jun 4, 2014

I've become an Anton Stralman fan. Very underrated defenseman.

locknload · Jun 4, 2014

Anyone else audio choppy? Driving me nuts but can't tell if its me or the feed.

johnmd20 · Jun 4, 2014

locknload said:
Anyone else audio choppy? Driving me nuts but can't tell if its me or the feed.

Its the feed. It is utterly horrendous. First off, I have to jack up my volume way ahead of normal levels. Second, the crowd can't be heard and the announcers voice's are low, but you can clearly hear every single time someone pounds the boards from the stands. It's really bad.

johnmd20 · Jun 4, 2014

Many many wasted opps for the Rangers. And now it's tied.

GAME	DATE	TIME (EDT)	MATCH UP	TELEVISION
Game 1	Wednesday, June 4	8 p.m.	NY Rangers at Los Angeles	NBC, CBC, RDS
Game 2	Saturday, June 7	7 p.m.	NY Rangers at Los Angeles	NBC, CBC, RDS
Game 3	Monday, June 9	8 p.m.	Los Angeles at NY Rangers	NBCSN, CBC, RDS
Game 4	Wednesday, June 11	8 p.m.	Los Angeles at NY Rangers	NBCSN, CBC, RDS
Game 5*	Friday, June 13	8 p.m.	NY Rangers at Los Angeles	NBC, CBC, RDS
Game 6*	Monday, June 16	8 p.m.	Los Angeles at NY Rangers	NBC, CBC, RDS
Game 7*	Wednesday, June 18	8 p.m.	NY Rangers at Los Angeles	NBC, CBC, RDS

Stanley Cup Final: Rangers vs. Kings

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