Post by NY Rangers (Dave) on Sept 18, 2015 13:52:10 GMT
Rangers Break Visiting Team Curse To Advance
In 6 games between the (favored) Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers, the home team enjoyed a perfect advantage. This left the Rangers as definite underdogs going into Game 7.
Rangers GM Dave Leibowitz made one minor change to his lineup but otherwise let the guys that got the team to this point try and steal the series.
This was a game the home team should have won. If only:
The underwhelming 15 shots the Rangers took proved to be overwhelming for Lightning starter Allen York. York had a fine regular season but was abysmal once the playoff decorations were laid under the ice sporting a 0.820 save percentage and a 4.14 goals against average.
Meanwhile, the players in front of York didn't seem interesting in helping. The Rangers had the man advantage a whopping NINE times while going shorthanded only once. Being shorthanded for nearly a full period is not a recipe for success and spells disaster when it happens in a Game 7.
The Rangers didn't exactly take full advantage of the prodigious gifts the Lightning seemed so eager to give them - just 1 power play goal in all those chances and only 15 shots against a team that was constantly killing its own momentum. But, to their credit, they did just enough.
So the Rangers get to move on and face the Pittsburgh Penguins in Round 2. The Penguins that finished second to the LA Kings in the regular season. The Penguins that were one goal shy of having the league's highest scoring offense. The Penguins that had the league's fourth best defense.
The Rangers will be lucky just to win one game in this series. I'll give them that and pick the Penguins in 5.
In 6 games between the (favored) Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers, the home team enjoyed a perfect advantage. This left the Rangers as definite underdogs going into Game 7.
Rangers GM Dave Leibowitz made one minor change to his lineup but otherwise let the guys that got the team to this point try and steal the series.
This was a game the home team should have won. If only:
- The goalie would've just played an "OK" game
- They could stay out of the penalty box
The underwhelming 15 shots the Rangers took proved to be overwhelming for Lightning starter Allen York. York had a fine regular season but was abysmal once the playoff decorations were laid under the ice sporting a 0.820 save percentage and a 4.14 goals against average.
Meanwhile, the players in front of York didn't seem interesting in helping. The Rangers had the man advantage a whopping NINE times while going shorthanded only once. Being shorthanded for nearly a full period is not a recipe for success and spells disaster when it happens in a Game 7.
The Rangers didn't exactly take full advantage of the prodigious gifts the Lightning seemed so eager to give them - just 1 power play goal in all those chances and only 15 shots against a team that was constantly killing its own momentum. But, to their credit, they did just enough.
So the Rangers get to move on and face the Pittsburgh Penguins in Round 2. The Penguins that finished second to the LA Kings in the regular season. The Penguins that were one goal shy of having the league's highest scoring offense. The Penguins that had the league's fourth best defense.
The Rangers will be lucky just to win one game in this series. I'll give them that and pick the Penguins in 5.
i'll be doing it all on friday as its teh only day off I have at the moment. Sorry, we are down people and its long late shifts at teh moment. 