The New York Rangers have made it to the Stanley cup finals for the first time in 20 years, 1994, where they beat the Vancouver Canucks, ending their 54 year drought. They will play the Los Angeles Kings. The last time the Rangers and Kings met in the postseason was 1981, when the Rangers won the series 3-1.The Kings had more points than the Rangers so Games 1 and 2 will be at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Which means, Games 3 and 4 will be at MSG, and 5(if necessary) will be back in LA, 6 (if necessary) in NY, 7 (if necessary) in LA.
Rangers Road to the Final:
The Rangers started the season in terrible fashion, getting blown out in San Jose and Anaheim part of a Garden Renovation road trip, which saw them start 3-6, and eventually 6-7, before they came home, goalie Henrik Lundqvist became himself again, finishing with a record of 45-31-6. Which was good for 96 points. They also finished with the best road record in Rangers history, 25-14-2. The Rangers finished 2nd in the Metropolitan Division behind the Pittsburgh Penguins. At the trade deadline, GM Glen Sather and Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman pulled off the first ever captain for captain swap in NHL history, sending Ryan Callahan to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Martin St.Louis, who was upset with Steve Yzerman about being left off the Team Canada Sochi Olympic team. The Rangers played the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the 2014 playoffs winning in 7 games. The next series they played the Pittsburgh Penguins, who took a 3-1 series lead after the Rangers had an abysmal 25 turnover performance in a 4-2 loss, bringing it back to Pittsburgh with a chance for the Pens to close out the series. Then, on the flight to Pittsburgh, tragically Rangers winger Martin St.Louis got a message on his phone that his mother France had died at age 63, so he immediately went back to Montreal to be with his family, he decided that she would have wanted him to play, so he played, and the Rangers rallied around that, winning the next 3 games, including game 7 to win, the series. Next up was the Montreal Canadiens who beat the Boston Bruins, in 7 games; Game 1 of that series was eventful because the Rangers won 7-2 and Chris Kreider accidentally hurt Canadiens starting goalie Carey Price. That led to the Canadiens Brandon Prust, a former New York Ranger, hitting Derek Stepan up high, and breaking his jaw in game 3, which the Canadiens won. The next day Brandon Prust would get suspended for 2 games, with the Rangers up 2-1 in the series. That same game, after the hit, Derek Dorsett fought Brandon Prust standing up for Stepan, and when the referee was escorting Daniel Carcillo who was also in the melee to the penalty box, Carcillo gave the ref a little shove, and was thrown out of the game. As a result of the NHL Rule against touching officials, he was suspended 10 games. The Rangers went on to win game 4, to go back to Montreal with a chance to close it out. In game 5, the Rangers took an early penalty which set the tone for the rest of the game, in which the Rangers lost 7-4, even tying it up at 4-4 at one point in the game. Game 6 was back at the Garden where the New York Rangers, from a beautiful feed from Brian Boyle to Dominic Moore and a typical great game from Henrik Lundqvist won 1-0 to be crowned the Eastern Conference champions for the first time since 1994.
LA Kings Road to the Final:
The Los Angeles Kings came into the 2014 playoffs, with a 46-28-8 record, good for 100 points. The Los Angeles Kings like the New York Rangers pulled off a deadline deal, with the Columbus Blue Jackets for Marian Gaborik, a noted goal scorer, who some thought was over the hill. In the playoffs the Kings,looked as if they were dead in the first round, being down 3-0 to the San Jose Sharks before they pulled off the comeback. In the 2nd round the Los Angeles Kings played the Anaheim Ducks, in a tight back and forth series that went the distance, and was NHL legend Teemu Selanne's (RW, Ducks); last game. The Kings then had to play the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks, in a really tight, really back and forth, and mostly really physical series, that went the distance, with two great teams, and two great goalies. In Game 7 Alec Martinez, put one past Corey Crawford in OT to send the Kings to the Cup, to try to win their 2nd cup in 3 years.
What the New York Rangers Have to do to win the cup:
The New York Rangers have to keep playing their game, keep the pressure on the Kings. The Rangers key is their speed if they can just outrun the Kings, if they can outrun the Kings they can get breakaways, if they get breakaways, they can score. The New York Rangers have Carl Hagelin, and Chris Kreider, two very fast skaters, that can tear up the Kings defense. The Rangers also can not just rest on Henrik Lundqvist, he is human too, if they just rest on him, they are toast. They also need to not make extra passes when they have shots, the more shots they get the better. Henrik Lundqvist also has to be Henrik Lundqvist, not a shadow of himself, if he can do that the Rangers have a legitimate shot at winning the Stanley Cup.
What the LA Kings have to do to win the cup:
The Los Angeles Kings have to keep the pressure on the Rangers and try to wear them out physically. The Kings have to get bodies in front of Henrik Lundqvist, and grab every rebound he gives up and put them back in. The Kings can not be in the mindset of we have a cup already, we just beat the champs, job is done, let's just relax, if they do that the Rangers will jump all over them and this will quickly turn into a quick series, no pun intended. The Kings have to just wear down the Rangers physically, every time the Rangers get the puck they have to be looking to protect themselves from a hit. The Kings also need the line of Marian Gaborik- Anze Kopitar- Dustin Brown, to continue to be their best line and Gaborik to continue to step up.
The Rangers will win the cup if.... the 4th line continues to be the Rangers best line and if Rick Nash breaks out of his slump and catches fire.
The Kings will win the cup if....... They continue to get production from all the lines, and they just continue to physically wear down the Rangers.
Predictions:
In this section I will predict every game winning goal scorer, how long the series will go, and what the scores will be, so here we go!
Game 1: 3-2 Kings win in OT, Justin Williams, 1-0
Game 2: 4-2 Rangers win, Dan Girardi, 1-1
Game 3: 2-1 Rangers win 2OT, Martin St.Louis 2-1
Game 4: 5-1 Kings win, Marian Gaborik, 2-2
Game 5: 2-1 Kings win OT, Anze Kopitar, 3-2
Game 6: 2-0 Rangers win, Ryan Mcdonagh, 3-3
Game 7: 1-0 Rangers win 3OT, Brian Boyle 4-3
The Rangers will capture their first Stanley Cup since 1994 and second since 1940. Henrik Lundqvist will add a Stanley cup to his trophy collection at home, which includes a 2006 Olympic gold medal from Torino, where he won it with Team Sweden, and a Vesina trophy from 2012
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