There has been a ton talk about and written that these two teams, and the Western Conference in general, are far superior to the East and that the Rangers will not have a chance against either club. I will say this much...when you watch these tow teams play it is very, very difficult to not consider them the two best teams in hockey. This very well may be the most exciting series of these playoffs, and the best played...
But to say that either team rolls the Rangers would be very short-sighted. The NHL just doesn't work that way. The playoffs tend to be about three things. Goalies and Special Teams are two of the three, but both fall far behind the #1 factor...matchups. And the Rangers matchup better than you might think against these teams.
They won both games this season against Chicago and split with the Kings. And they have never been playing better than they are right now. Rick Nash coming to life is the equivalent of adding a trade deadline star to their line-up. And Lundqvist is Lundqvist. Whoever the Rangers face come Wednesday night you can expect great goaltending and low scoring games decided by bounces and breaks.
All that said, if you ever wanted to turn a friend onto this sport...get them in front of the TV tonight and they will see the game played at its highest levels. If they don't fall in love with hockey after that...they are dead to you.
What do you think?
Welcome Micheal Pachla, New Sabres Writer
Very pleased to welcome Mike to the team! check out his first official piece. HERE