Rangers eager for another kick at the Cup
To many, that New York Rangers run to last spring’s Stanley Cup final seemed like a fluke.
If not a fluke, certainly a surprising charge from fifth place in the Eastern Conference that included many timely and fortuitous moments. Notably, as Montreal Canadiens fans might argue, a certain Ranger winger crashing into a certain Habs goalie that tipped the conference final decisively in New York’s direction.
It wasn’t that the Rangers weren’t good enough to win the east or undeserving of it. It’s that nobody in the east really seemed good enough, and they ultimately won the tallest contestant award at a Muggsy Bogues stunt double contest and the right to face the Los Angeles Kings for the Cup.
Well if it was a fluke, or primarily a creation of Chris Kreider’s accidentally-on-purpose collision with Carey Price, or just that the Rangers were the best of the bunch in the weaker Eastern Conference, the Blueshirts sure seem hell-bent on demonstrating they’re more than good enough to go the same route again this spring with a better ending.
A 4-3 victory over the Kings on Thursday in L.A. was the first collision between the 2014 Stanley Cup finalists since Alec Martinez permanently etched his named in Cup overtime history in Game 5.
It was New York’s 12th victory in 13 games, as impressive a winning streak as the Blueshirts have had in 42 years, back to the days of Brad Park and the GAG Line. As well, after blowing leads in all three games in L.A. during the Cup final, and ultimately losing all three matches including the clincher, this time it was the Rangers who spotted the Kings a 2-0 margin and roared back to win.
“We’re always going to have the feeling of a missed opportunity,” defenceman Marc Staal told the New York Post about returning to L.A. where the Cup was lost.
New York did it Thursday night with Cam Talbot in net, the backup to Henrik (The King) Lundqvist, who missed the final with a broken hand. Nothing like proving you can beat the other guy with less than your best.
This Ranger team is somewhat changed over last spring’s conference champs. One Boyle (Brian) has been lanced and another Boyle (Dan) has grown into the lineup. Fast Jesper Fast and big Kevin Hayes are figuring into the forward rotations, Ryan McDonagh is wearing the captain’s “C” and Rick Nash (25 goals in 38 games) has been the kind of scoring force that might have helped the Rangers win the ’14 Cup if he’d played that way last June.
The emotion of Martin St. Louis’ personal loss has gradually dissipated, and this year it’s the fact St. Louis is headed towards unrestricted free agency along with other key Rangers like Staal and Mats Zuccarello that is a more prominent issue.
But the core elements — Alain Vigneault’s coaching, the King’s goaltending, McDonagh’s partnership with Dan Girardi, Derek Stepan’s two-way maturity — remain in place. Whether the Rangers make an aggressive move prior to the deadline this year as they did with St. Louis last year remains an open question, although the organization can ill afford to again sacrifice another major chunk of the future in pursuit of the Cup.
It’s an interesting time for the Rangers, with their corporate brothers, the Knicks, floundering horribly, and with the Islanders poised to move to Brooklyn and encroach slightly more on Ranger territory. The Islanders and their charge up the standings have been the talk of New York-area hockey, at least in positive way compared to the struggling Devils, but the Rangers still own this market and seem to be playing in such a way as to make that abundantly clear to one and all.
Out west, meanwhile, the champion Kings are bumping along as they usually do in the regular season, doing just enough to get into the dance while letting other squads rake in the laurels. Their road record is awful and they seem to really miss the mobility of Slava Voynov on the back end, but nobody would be foolish to count that team out, not with Jonathan Quick, Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams still on the roster.
L.A. hasn’t finished higher than fifth in the conference in the last three years (the Kings won the ’12 Cup after losing more than they won in the regular season) and now sits in possession of the first wildcard position. Nobody seems exactly thrilled with the situation, and it’s weird to see grinder Dwight King on the first line, but how concerned can anyone be?
“Four goals against yet again for a team that prides itself on defence is simply inexcusable,” grumbled Williams, Mr. Game 7, after the loss to the Rangers.
As with the Rangers and St. Louis, the Kings got a massive boost when they added Marian Gaborik from Columbus at last year’s trade deadline. They’re looking right now like a team that might need something similar again.
For both the Rangers and Kings, their Cup clash was just seven months ago, recent enough to remember clearly, far enough away to know it really doesn’t impact anything now. A rematch in the final would be intriguing, but seems unlikely.
The result on Thursday made a statement, but offered no conclusions.
As is always the case, winning in January is swell.
But they won’t be awarding the big shiny trophy for another six months.