On the other hand, however, Montreal was simply dreadful. They were slow, sloppy and, for the better part of the game, seemed to be hungover from their game 7 victory over the Bruins. How bad were the Canadiens? They allowed the Rangers to score three power play goals, one of them by Rick Nash, whose last playoff goal, if memory serves, was scored sometime in 1911. They left their goalie, Carey Price, virtually naked and made Chris Kreider look like Steve Shutt. Thomas Vanek and P.K. Subban, second round heroes over the Bruins, were invisible.
And yet, even with all that, it was a 2-1 game until the 18:59 mark of the 2nd period. That was when Steve, er, Chris Kreider split through both Montreal defensemen for a breakaway goal. Fifty seconds later Brad Richards caught Carey Price leaning the wrong way and shot the puck past him. 4-1 Rangers after two. The third period seemed almost anticlimactic.
Don't get me wrong, I love a good laugher as much as the next fan. Of the Rangers' eight playoff wins coming into this series, six were nail biters. Indeed, both game 7s were as excruciating as they were exciting to watch. So it was a nice reprieve to not have to sweat out a third period for once. Trust me, I have enough gray hairs.
But a reprieve is all this was, period. If anyone thinks for a moment that game 2 is going to be the cakewalk game 1 was, they're delusional. The Canadiens are a very fast and very talented team. And very proud. Despite what all their players said after the game about putting this behind them, believe me, the way they played will stick in their craw. They will look to exact revenge on the Blueshirts in game 2. There is no way Montreal can lose both games at home and expect to win this series. They know that and so should the Rangers.
In the last round, the Rangers beat the Penguins in game 1 by out skating them. Pittsburgh couldn't contend with the Rangers' speed. Then, for some reason, they stopped skating and checking. The Penguins won the next three before the tragic death of Marty St. Louis's mother sparked an emotional resurgence and miraculous turnaround. The Rangers rolled off three consecutive and decisively emotional wins to oust the Pens.
Know this, if the Rangers pull that against the Canadiens, there will be no miracle comeback. No way in hell Montreal will blow a 3-1 series lead. They are considerably better, deeper, sounder and more resilient than Pittsburgh. You don't defeat the Eastern Conference champs by letting up. They know how to deliver a knockout punch; a trait which the Rangers have been sadly lacking.
It's also worth noting that the last time a Rangers team found itself up one game to none against a Canadians team was 1979 in the Cup finals. That was a fairly lopsided win, too, if I'm not mistaken.
We all know how that series turned out.
No comments:
Post a Comment