Pre-Game Talk: Tampa Bay Lightning @ New York Rangers Game 1

[Beacon]

Statistically, 1/3 of heart attack victims die, so 2/3 of us should have survived Game 7. On the one hand, the bad news is that you broke a lot of your furniture celebrating, but on the upside, you now have the living room space for your own Henrik Lundqvist Statute as well as space in front of it where you can kneel in prayer every morning. As fans we need to pitch in to buy the Rangers another hat. It will be called "Best Non-Lundqvist Of The Game." Hank should take the "Player of the Game" hat home since he deserves it every game.

Now I know many of you are happy that the Rangers made the ECF for the 3rd time in 4 years, but if we learned anything from our angry little suburban neighbors, it's that this team is #unsustainable. One of these years, we won't make the ECF... just not this year.

Since the last lockout, we have been on an #unsustainable streak of 364 games (regular season + playoffs) against strictly #cupcake teams, but 364 games is clearly not a large enough sample, it's just a short lucky streak. After 8 more wins, the Rangers can start losing - at golf. They might even lose hockey games in Traverse City.

Up next is Round 3 vs Rangers-South. Tampa is not as good at clogging up the ice as Washington, so hopefully Nash can score more than 1 goal this round. Tampa won't be as good in the middle of the ice if Callahan doesn't play. Must admit that he's been a great captain: first he refuses to take Sather's obscene contract offer that would've destroyed our salary cap, then Cally gets surgery right before Tampa plays us. What a leader! True New Yorker there!

#BrokenRearViewMirror

Bovada odds:

Rangers + 220
Hawks +240
Ducks +240
Lightning +475

Another Sportsbook:

Rangers 2/1
Hawks 9/4
Ducks 23/10
Lightning 9/2

P.S. Same day the Rangers beat the Caps in the OT, the WolfPack beat the Bears (Caps' AHL affiliate) in the OT to win game 5 and take a 3-2 lead. The Bears will now get reinforcement, but I'm hoping our kids can pull off one win in the next two games to reach the AHL ECF. The two games are Friday and Sunday. Let's finish off the Capitals franchise by sending their affiliate to the golf course as well!

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[we want cup]

They have the better top pair on defense, but we have the better depth. I expect whoever manages to avoid Hedman-Stralman to capitalize.

As far as Bishop, gotta make him move. Open up that big five hole and don't let him get comfy. I doubt he'll play as well as Holtby did, in any case.

I'm a bit worried about their triplets' speed, but we should be able to handle it, for the most part. At least we don't have to worry as much about our defensemen taking a pounding. Just have to be smart on pinches and such. I think Yandle will have a good series. It should suit his style of play much better.

 

[Raspewtin]

I really don't know how I feel about this series.

My lord I wish it was Montreal and not Tampa, so bad.

 

[Beacon]

I doubt Bishop will play as well as Holtby did, in any case.

We will keep making every goalie look like God. First Fleury, then Holtby, now Bishop. That's because our two most skilled, highest paid forwards (Nash and MSL) can't score. Guys like Hagelin, Fast, Moore, Miller, etc pelt the goalie with shots, but do not have the great skill to score by the power of their will. An occasional shot of theirs goes in, but if they are the only ones scoring, the goalie looks like God who keeps on stopping a huge number of shots. That's where the stars have to come in and make that one extra move or to move a split second faster or to shoot a little bit harder and more accurately to beat the goalie on a consistent basis, while the rest of the team is going to score on a much less consistent basis by pelting the goalie with pucks. If your stars don't do that, the goalie suddenly looks like he's a superstar because he's more talented than anyone shooting at him.

Think of it this way: imagine if instead of offense, we were talking about defense. McDonagh, Staal and Girardi suddenly play defense no better than Hunwick. What would the other teams' best forwards look like? They would all look like Gods. Hunwick can take care of business occasionally, but to shut down Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin, Stamkos, etc., you need your top defensive guys to play well or the opposition's stars will bulldoze over you if your best defense against them is presented by Hunwick. That's how it works on offense: when our top offensive guys score like bottom-6 players, the goalie looks like God.

 

[Rick Nash 61]

Lolol Auf voting opposing team in 4 again

 

[Open Mind]

I really don't know how I feel about this series.

My lord I wish it was Montreal and not Tampa, so bad.

Kinda feel the same way about not knowing how to feel. Real tough one to gauge because TB hammered us early in the season (which at this point feels like 6 years ago). But how much stock can we put in what happened back then compared to how the NYR have played since?

Overall, I feel really confident in this team, because if the NYR have shown any one thing it's that they are an exceedingly difficult team to beat. Could any one of us said with a straight face three years ago we'd come back from 3-1 down twice in two seasons ... that we'd become a team where our goalies and players could clamp down on game 7s and we would win 6 straight, with Hank allowing 5 goals and posting a .973 sv pct in those 6 games? That's ****ing insane.

Regardless of what happens, I am proud of this team. They battle their ***** off; they carry themselves with class, poise and composure; they don't quit or get rattled; and no matter what tactics or systems are employed against them, they find ways to win.

I ****ing love this team and it is a pleasure watching these recent seasons. I just wish, just once, they could win a damn playoff game by two goals!

 

[darko]

If we win the Cup there wont be anyone left to celebrate.

 

[darko]

Rangers in 7.

We should see lot more goals than previous 2 series. Their offense is marginally better than ours. We have Hank.

 

[Sirius Vivace]

... the stars have to come in and make that one extra move or to move a split second faster or to shoot a little bit harder and more accurately to beat the goalie on a consistent basis, while the rest of the team is going to score on a much less consistent basis by pelting the goalie with pucks.

^Yes^

And the little bit of extra room we should be given during this series can help, as well. Not only with the goals, but with quality feeds. Passing lanes may be easier to come by.

Regardless of what happens, I am proud of this team. They battle their ***** off; they carry themselves with class, poise and composure; they don't quit or get rattled; and no matter what tactics or systems are employed against them, they find ways to win.

I feel the same. No reason to stop being optimistic now. Believe!

 

[Levitate]

Need kreider to start running some guys

 

[Atax]

Let's hope they don't let Callahan sit in front of the net like their earlier games.

 

[Hockey Team]

Boyle vs Boyle

 

[Killem Dafoe]

Islanders and Tampa were two teams that I personally would have liked to avoid. Let's see how it goes, hopefully we can find our scoring again. Hank has been lights out for us.

 

[nevesis]

Price would have been much harder to beat than Bishop. He's a much better goaltender.

The road games in Tampa Bay are much less of an intimidating atmosphere than playing at the Bell Centre.

This was my ECF bracket and the two teams that deserve to be there.

Can't ****ing wait.

 

[Nickmo82]

I said Rangers in 5. It's not the British way, but I figured a bit of bluster and false confidence might go a long way.

Anyways, the Rangers are due an easy, dominant series.... right???

 

[Beacon]

For Lundqvist or any Ranger to win the Conn Smythe, the Rangers would almost certainly need to win the Cup. Vegas has almost 50% of the Conn Smythe odds going to Ranger players.

 

[IAMREALITY]

Once the series gets goin I think we'll see that they're not as scary as we might want to think them to be. I honestly can see us taking it in 5 or 6. I also strongly disagree that they have the better top pair and really am not scared of this triplet hype either. I think it'll be a fun and hard fought series, but I think our scoring will open up and we'll fare far better than we have so far. Meanwhile, I think Hank will get even better along the way, and completely frustrate the **** out of them.

This is our year. Not their year. They're just simply there for the storyline...

 

[skymachine]

People on this board have been talking about this series as if it was completely inevitable going back to Novemeber when these teams met in the reg season. Now here we are. As others said, its a tough series to gauge. The season series is difficult to use as a predictor given all the games happened early on and the Rangers had not found their groove yet.

My biggest worry is Bishop. The Rangers always struggle to score on him. They always have a hard time with big goalies. The offense hasn't been quite there so far in the playoffs either, but it has been timely.

Tampa has the more explosive offense right now, which is their biggest advantage. Their D isn't too shabby either. However the Rangers have the playoff experience, are battle tested over the past number of years. They have proven to be a difficult team to put away. They also have this guy named Lundqvist.

This could be a short series in either teams favor, it's that hard to predict.

 

[Draft Guru]

Bishop has given up some soft goals these playoffs (especially to the glove side). Think you can get him rattled mentally and off his game. Rangers have faced Fleury and Holtby, who both played lights out. Don't think Bishop can match that level.

Wonder how strict AV is with trying to match up Mac/G in this series. Does he stick them against the Triplets line, or Stamkos, or just go with the flow? Personally I'd pair them against Johnson.

Tampa definitely has a great offense. But we have a similarly good offense, probably a better defense, and the edge in net. Plus tons of experience. TB is extremely young.

Confident in the Blueshirts that they can get this one done.

 

[Ori]

I hope Rangers win the serie, but realistically I think Bolts got this in game 6 - unless Zucc is back sooner than expected which I doubt.
I know I'm not very optimistic and yes I'm worried for Rangers.

 

[SixGoalieSystem]

This is not going to be easy. They are probably the only team in the east who can match our speed. And you just know Cally, Boyle and Stralsie will have a great series.

I think we edge it out, but I'm ****ing scared.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I want to win this series even more now. According to the main boards we're boring. It wasn't the Pens and Caps that were boring and that played a style that was not conducive to offensive hockey, it was the Rangers.

 

[Placid]

This'll be a difficult series... very difficult.. but i believe we can do it.

In terms of the poll.. first series against Pitt, i voted for 5 games (which was correct). In the Caps series, i voted for 6 games, which was one too little. Now im voting Rangers in 7, so i'll expect us to win it in 6

 

[SnowblindNYR]

This'll be a difficult series... very difficult.. but i believe we can do it.

In terms of the poll.. first series against Pitt, i voted for 5 games (which was correct). In the Caps series, i voted for 6 games, which was one too little. Now im voting Rangers in 7, so i'll expect us to win it in 6

Or if the trend from last series continues we'll lose in 7.

 

[Placid]

Or if the trend from last series continues we'll lose in 7.

nah, until it actually happens, "losing the series" is currently not part of my vocabulary