On June 14th, 1994, the New York Rangers finally brought Lord Stanley’s Cup back to Madison Square Garden after 54 years. It took all seven games of the finals for the Rangers to beat the Vancouver Canucks. At the time, I was graduating from the eighth grade and not yet a hockey fan, but I clearly remember a classmate who was a big Rangers fan being very excited about the win. It really is a shame that I didn’t become a hockey fan until a few years later and missed out on that tremendous moment in Rangers history.
Now twenty years later, as the Rangers finish out the regular season with another shot at the playoffs, will this be the year they win it all again? Will I finally get to see my beloved Rangers raise Lord Stanley’s Cup in triumph? Or are we destined for yet another disappointing playoff series loss?
With the Philadelphia Flyer’s win over the Pittsburgh Penguins yesterday, a first round playoff match-up between the Rangers and Flyers is set. As a hockey fan I think that’s going to be an amazing match-up between two division rivals, a rivalry that stretches back to the beginning of the Flyers’ franchise, and a rivalry between the two cities that has stretched back at least a century or more earlier.
As a Rangers fan with family members who live near and rout for all the Philly teams, I think God forbid the Rangers lose this series! Philly fans will be insufferable, even more so than they already are, and my cousin, well let’s just say I’ll be attending Thanksgiving elsewhere next year. All that aside, a match-up between the Rangers and Flyers has the potential to be a great series.
The Flyers didn’t make the playoffs last season, didn’t make it past quarterfinals the previous two seasons and lost in the final back in 2010 to the Chicago Blackhawks. They haven’t won the Stanley Cup in my lifetime having last won it in 1975, and I’m thinking they’re hungry for another shot at winning that beautiful silver trophy. But I’m not entirely sure they can knock out the Rangers in the first round. The two teams have played each other four times this season and each have one two of those games.
I think we can all agree though that the playoffs are a whole different scenario than the regular season, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look at our regular season numbers to try and predict how this series is going to go.
Now my boyfriend asserts that since the Flyers are making the playoffs they’re just as good as the Rangers and have an equal shot of winning the series. He’s not really a hockey fan, but is a sports fan, so you think he would know better. Sure, in theory any team making the playoffs has a shot of winning the Stanley Cup, and we’ve all seen top seeded teams get knocked out in the first round. Here’s more or less the analysis I laid out for him before he lost interest.
Goaltending wise the Rangers have a clear advantage with Henrik Lundqvist and Cam Talbot. Both players have a higher save percentage and better goals against averages than either of the Flyers goaltenders for this season. Lunqvist has consistently been one of the best goalies in the league, and in Cam Talbot’s first full season as Lundqvist’s back up, he has proved to be outstanding, particularly early in the season when Lundqvist appeared to be having some issues.
The Flyers goalies, Steve Mason and Ray Emery just aren’t the caliber of goaltender as Lundqvist and in my opinion, Talbot is better than both of them as well. The Rangers have two outstanding goalies whereas the Flyers have one goalie struggling to attempt to live up to his potential as a former Calder Trophy recipient and despite their backup having won the Stanley Cup last season with the Blackhawks, the Flyers have relegated him to backup duty where he hasn’t been playing nearly as well as last season. Steve Mason was also injured in the Flyers last game with Pittsburgh so he may not be 100% at the start of the playoffs.
Now onto some of the players who don’t spend the entire game having pucks rocketed towards them.
The Rangers have a healthy team with defenseman and team MVP Ryan McDonagh back to 100% since he injured his should in their game with the Canucks, and other than Chris Kreider, the rest of the Rangers are healthy and ready for the playoffs. They showed how tough they can play in their last regular season game against the Montreal Canadiens and their ability to score should make them a dangerous team. The power play has been a real weakness for the Rangers this season, but I otherwise think they’re a strong team.
The Flyers Kimmo Timmonen and Nicklas Grossmann appear to be still suffering from some injuries, but will likely be okay to play in the as yet to be formally announced game one on Thursday. The Flyers do know how to score though with seven 20 goal scorers on the team, more than any other NHL team, which the Rangers are really going to have to work to shut down. (Good thing the Rangers have King Henrik in net.)
The Flyers have been struggling the past few weeks and I just don’t see them as having the same type of momentum going into the playoffs as the Rangers.
Add to that the fact that the Rangers haven’t lost to the Flyers at the Garden since 2011 and gave up 28 goals in the eight games during that period, with the Rangers having home ice advantage, it looks to be a real uphill battle for the Flyers. The Rangers are 9-2-2 since March 18th which is the best record in the NHL over that period and should be carrying that momentum into the first round. I’m predicting the Rangers win this one in six.
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