The Stanley Cup Final has been filled with so many upsets, two point leads, comebacks, overtimes, penalties, etc and only two games have been played so far. The Kings have yet to hold a lead during a game versus the New York Rangers. In Game one the Kings were down 2-0, and came back in the 2nd period to tie the game and take the win in overtime with a goal from Justin Williams (Mr. Game 7). In Game 2, the Kings were always down by 2 during the Game. 2-0, 3-1, 4,2 and yet the Kings fought for the game. The Kings made a great comeback in the third period and tied the game to force overtime. The Game went to double overtime and the winning goal was made by the Captain Dustin Brown to take a 2-0 lead in LA.
The Kings have won 7 straight series when they take a 2-0 lead. Their only loss was in 1968 against the Minnesota North Stars. The Rangers on the other hand have won two of the past seven series in which they were behind 2-0 in the series, but were 0-for-17 before they first rally in 1996 against the Montreal Canadiens. The most recent time the Rangers came back from a 2-0 deficit was in last year’s Stanley cup playoffs against the Washington Capitals.
The series now goes back to New York and the Rangers are facing two games in which they need to win in order to still be alive in the Stanley Cup Final. On the other hands, the Kings need to at least take one game on the road to come back to LA and win it in 5 games. But in order for the Rangers to do this they need to make some changes in their lineups. Lundqvist has not showed up in the past two games. He gave away two big leads that forced both games to go into overtime and allow the Kings to take a 2-0 lead. Lundqvist made a difference during the playoffs allowing the Rangers to make it to the Stanley Cup but he hasn’t been much of help during the Final.
“Our guys are going to be real focused tomorrow”, the coach said Sunday of the New York Rangers. ” We need to hold serve. We’re back in our building. We’ve played some good hockey. We might feel that we deserve a better outcome than what we have right now, which is trailing by two games.” The Rangers need to believe they can come back from this 2-0 deficit, play tight in the defense, Lundqvist needs to step up his game and start making some saves, but it won’t be easy against a Kings’ team that has been unstoppable.
The Kings, on the other hand, need to stay focused as well with this 2-0 lead. We have seen this twice in which they have had a 2 game lead and give it away. In the second round, they won the first two games against Anaheim, only to lose the next three and force a game 7. In the third round, they had a 3-1 lead against Chicago, gave it away and had to force a game 7. The Kings will have to play tight in the defense, allow the Carter, Brown and Kopitar line to make some plays and for Williams, Pearson, Toffoli, and Voynov to step it up as well.
Game 3 is tonight and will be held at Madison Square Garden. The Kings look to take a 3-0 lead while the Rangers look to cut the lead to 1. Puck drops at 8PM ET/5PM PT.
