They're done!
That was a comment my sister Chrissy made on my Facebook page after the Rangers lost to the Kings in double overtime, 5-4, to go down two games to none in the Stanley Cup Finals (I added the exclamation point!). My immediate response was to write what I was thinking right there on FB, but then I remembered I have a blog...
Okay, so it doesn't look good for the Rangers right now, but yeah, I still kinda believe. Tonight's game was a "must-win" game for them because they lost a tough Game 1 in OT after having a 2-0 lead, and to go back to New York down by 2 would be (and is!) terrible. And they played a good game, too, aside from the normal temporary lapses any team has in any game. The puck, and the action, just did not go their way.
There was one tough break in the game with the Blueshirts leading 4-2 in the third period, and this one may have been a game changer. Dwight King, of the Kings, deflected a shot by teammate Matt Greene's slap shot to make the score 4-3. The play became
controversial because it appeared that King interfered with
Ranger goalie Hendrik Lundqvist, inadvertently or not knocking him down and rendering him unable to make the save. That's illegal and the goal should have been negated. It wasn't, and it was at that point I started to have a bad feeling...
The Rangers squandered 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2 leads in Game 2. (LA Times)
That they did...and they squandered a 2-0 lead in the first game. Not good! But still, in both games the Rangers were in a position to win. To me, that's still encouraging. Either game could have tilted either way. That's what makes hockey one of the greatest sports ever invented.
Of course Rangers fans are already up in arms about that goal. Yes, I believe it was a bad non-call, too, and that if a penalty was called and the goal negated, we might have had a whole different outcome. I thought that maybe the hockey gods were somehow going to save the Rangers still, like they did against the "diving" Habs in the last round, but they didn't. That's because the Kings are a really good team.
So the Rangers are in a really bad spot, but that doesn't mean they're done. C'mon, ya gotta believe! I'm sure a lot of people said that when they were behind Pittsburgh in the Second Round, three games to one. I know I thought that. And they won. The Rangers have proven to all of us fans that they'e a damned good team and whether or not they win it all, they've still made us proud! So to all my fellow Rangers' fans out there...
Don't give up! You gotta believe!
I know I'm not giving up. Minute by minute, period by period, they can win this, and I am going to watch every single minute of the rest of this series, whether it goes only to Game Four or even Six or Seven. I'm gonna shut it off the second the Kings win it, if they do (I just couldn't watch that!), and yeah, it would sting for a couple of days afterwards, but it's a game.
These Rangers? They're gonna be around for a little while anyway, I believe, and we're gonna have some more great runs to the Cup. They may just not be ready this time around....or maybe they are! We'll see.
Let's Go Rangers!
