"Note...I am traveling to LA today, so the Podcast won't be at its normal 1pm time...with any luck it will be around 5pm ET. Thanks!" -Ek
I remember a really oddball story from the Hockey News from when I was a kid. I believe it was The Hockey News, but it may have been Hockey Digest in actuality. Anyway, the article was written in the 1980’s and it was prediction “Stanley Cup Finals in the way-off future.… Years like 2000, 2006, 2014….even beyond if I remember right.
It was completely ridiculous stuff mostly. I sort of remember in the article one of the Cups in the early 2000s was played on a new kind of invisible ice between The Toronto Jets (moved from Winnipeg) and the Mexico City team… Another was the first played on the moon I believe. It was a very creative article and I wish I could find it. My memory of it now was the same kind of feeling I get from Epcot Center in Orlando…As the Simpsons say, “Epcot is what people in 70’s thought 14 years ago would look like.
Why I bring this up though is I remember amidst all the crazy teams from Europe and beyond there was a Stanley Cup Final, I believe in the year 2025 that they predicted would be played by two of the “Original 12.… The LA Kings and the NY Rangers. If I can remember the article predicted, “The two teams had become so dominant because both cities contained half the earth’s population.… or something like that…I was maybe 10.
So, my memory of the details of the article may be completely twisted at this point, yet here we sit…the day of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. Fun times.
There have been plenty of articles written about how these teams haven’t played each other in the playoffs often (twice to be exact, thirty some years ago) and plenty of articles about what this series will be.
To me, this is a very simple series. Two teams who know they have to outwork their opponents to score goals and win, and two goalies capable of stealing any given period, any given game, and this series.
This isn’t about the West being sooooo much better than the East…even though it is. This is more like 2012 when the Kings took out the Devils in 6. That was a VERY close series despite it going only 6 games and the Kings dominating the clincher. If you remember early in that series the Devils were battling in some very tight games. Had Jeff Carter not scored the Game 1 winner in OT I still can’t say for certain who wins that Cup.
The early games were even and the Devils battled hard….because that is what they do.
Those Devils and these Rangers are both out of that mold. The difference being, I firmly believe these Rangers are better suited to do battle and they are deeper in every position. I would take these Rangers over the 2012 Devils in 5 games.
On the other side the Kings are now an experienced group, a resilient machine of a well coached team, but they are not all that better. Some Kings people I trust say they aren’t as deep in their own end and can’t handle the forecheck as well as the 2010 team.
They also might not be as hungry….at least not as hungry as a Rangers team on an emotional roller coaster with players who know very well this might be their shot. Their one run. The Kings have already been to this rodeo. In the Finals experience is huge…but so is desperation.
To me, one of the many reasons the Kings and Hawks series was spectacular was because it was a rare time that two great teams who AREN’T disappointments or worried about losing did battle. Winning the Cup is a rare thing and getting to that dance depends on skill for sure, but also many, many random breaks along the way.
So whenever I “attempt… to predict a Final I take that into account. Guys like Lundqvist and Nash can’t be sure they will ever be back here again. They may be, but the Rangers aren’t built to be a dynasty. This could be it. Marty St. Louis and Dom Moore are on emotional roller coasters and they are channelling tragedy into a higher level of play.
The Kings are an awesome unflappable group trying to win a second Cup….to say they won a second Cup. Nothing shabby about that. But also nothing desperate.
That could matter. I am not saying it will, but it usually does. Does it matter enough though? Does the emotion and desperation of the moment bridge the talent gap up front enough and make up for experience factor enough?
It’s what makes the Final its own animal and so much fun to watch play out.
It’s amazing to me the amount of Flyers fans pulling for Lundqvist and St. Louis….The fans are also caught up in the drama of this all. For Flyers fans to be pulling for the Rangers feels like the end days to me.
My guess….
Rangers in 7
Your turn...