The Rangers have hope! Yeah. but...

We’re two games into the Stanley Cup final, and it’s not going well for the New York Rangers. Both games followed a similar script — the Rangers built up a two-goal lead, then collapsed and lost in overtime. Now they’re hosting Game 3 tonight, facing a virtual must-win against an L.A. Kings team that seems to be toying with them.

There’s a temptation to bury the Rangers, and if this keeps up for two more games we’ll get the chance to do it for real in a few days. But today, I thought we’d go in a different direction. Because while it’s true that coming home down 2-0 in the series is the worst-case scenario in terms of wins and losses, it hasn’t been all bad for the Rangers. There’s room for optimism here. So we’re going to walk through a few reasons why New York fans should feel like they can absolutely come back and win this series.

And then, once we’ve done that, we’ll inject some reality to crush that hope back into a fine powder of despair.

(Sorry, New York – never ask a Maple Leafs fan to supply your optimism.)

They’re Playing Pretty Well

The most cited stat over the past 48 hours is one that doesn’t even sound possible: The Kings are up in the series 2-0 despite not leading in either game for so much as a second. That speaks to the quirkiness of sudden-death overtime, but also to how well the Rangers have played for long stretches. Despite some predictions that they wouldn’t be able to hang with the Kings unless Henrik Lundqvist stood on his head, the Rangers have absolutely looked like a team that can hold its own.

The blown leads are obviously a major concern, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Rangers have had to play well to get those leads in the first place. If they can keep that up, and get an extra bounce or two along the way, then they can wind up right back in this thing.

Yeah, but: It’s all well and good to talk about deserving a better fate, but that won’t change the fact that the Rangers are down 2-0 and now need to win four out of five. That’s an awfully tough hill to climb against a team like L.A., no matter how well you’re playing.

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NHL Playoff Quest - The Complete Walkthrough

Welcome to the walkthrough for NHL Playoff Quest. In this challenging new adventure game, you assume the role of a valiant Hockey Player trying to capture the legendary Stanley Cup. But the journey is fraught with peril, and only the truly heroic can survive. This walkthrough will guide you through the various strategies, side quests, and boss fights that stand between you and winning the game.

As the game begins, you are on the bench listening to the last few bars of the national anthem. Depending on the arena you’re in, this scene will take between three and 35 minutes. It cannot be skipped. Once the song ends, be sure to hit the “Let’s Go Now, Boys” button a few times to build up your Leadership Points. Wait until your coach taps you on the shoulder, and then jump on the ice. Note: Do not jump on the ice before the coach taps you, as this will activate “1979 Bruins mode” and make the game unwinnable.

Main Quest Chapter 1: FIRST PERIOD

Early in the game, your character will be wearing a standard-issue set of Titanium Hockey Armor. At this point, you can decide whether or not to also don the Visor of Eye Protection; refusing to do so will make you vulnerable to career-ending eye injuries, but also unlock the “Good Canadian Boy” achievement. This is also a good time to equip a weapon.

Starting weapon: HOCKEY STICK

Your hockey stick can be used to deal damage to opposing players. The basic attacks include the hook, slash, and trip. You can also execute the “Spear Junk” attack, although if you use it too frequently, you’ll eventually get a reputation as a player who spears junk even though that’s totally unfair because come on who doesn’t spear a little junk sometimes, am I right?

While you’re hacking and slashing opponents, you may occasionally see a small black disk slide by in the background. This is The Puck, and you can use your hockey stick to direct it toward the opponents’ defensive zone. (Be careful not to accidentally shoot the puck into the stands, as this will initiate the World’s Dumbest Rule side quest.)

Once you successfully move the puck near the opponent’s net, you will face your first boss fight.

Boss fight: THE STAR GOALTENDER

In this battle, your objective is to use your hockey stick to shoot the puck past the goaltender and into the net behind him. This is trickier than it sounds, since with every few seconds that go by, the goaltender’s equipment will get larger and larger and nobody will care. The best strategy is to aim for the nearest defenseman’s shin pad and hope the puck deflects nine times before reaching the net. Alternately, if you wait long enough, the goaltender will eventually drop into a butterfly stance, increasing the amount of space at the top of the net from half an inch all the way up to three quarters of an inch.

Or you could just skate toward him at full speed, “accidentally” trip, and plow into his leg. This strategy ends the boss fight immediately.

You’ll know you’ve won the battle when you see a red light flash and hear a goal horn sound 500 times. Proceed to the next chapter.

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Grab Bag: And then a hero comes along

In the grab bag:
- Youppi takes the Walk of Shame
- Is the "Final" or the "Finals"?
- An obscure player that Ranger fans love, even though they've forgotten he once played for them
- The stick slashing rule is broken
- Don Cherry reaches summer reruns
- And Mariah Carey serenades the Rangers, Canucks, and a sullen Gary Bettman

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2014 Stanley Cup Preview

The Kings and Rangers drop the puck in Los Angeles tonight to open the Stanley Cup final. The Kings are looking for their second title in three years, and the oddsmakers have made them the favorites. That’s no surprise — we’ve spent most of the year talking about how much stronger the Western Conference has looked, and the Kings have already beaten three excellent teams to get here.

But while the Rangers may have had the easier path to the final, they’re a dangerous team to dismiss. After a rocky first half, they’ve come together nicely under a new coach, and they’re riding the most dangerous weapon in playoff hockey: a hot goaltender.

So are the Kings really better? And if so, by how much? To find out, let’s have a look at who owns the edge in 10 key categories, along with our official Stanley Cup prediction.

Goaltending

Rangers: We might as well get this category out of the way first, since it’s going to be the big story. Goaltending is always the most-dissected factor in any playoff series, and it’s hard to remember a final in which the matchup has seemed as crucial as this one.

Henrik Lundqvist is the most important player in the series, and no individual performance will go further in deciding who comes away with the Cup. The math is fairly simple: No team does a better job of controlling possession and winning the shot battle than the Kings, and if that continues, the only way the Rangers can win is if their goaltender outplays the other guy.

Luckily, that’s essentially what Lundqvist has been doing for the last six weeks, and it’s why the Rangers are here. He hasn’t been unbeatable — he’s been pulled twice, including as recently as Game 5 against the Canadiens. But he’s been remarkably consistent, giving up two goals or fewer in 15 of his 20 starts. And when he’s playing well, he exudes the sort of “can’t beat this guy” vibe that can get teams to change their style, forcing extra passes and waiting for the perfect shot.

A skeptic might point out that in Ray Emery, Steve Mason, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Dustin Tokarski, Lundqvist hasn’t had to outplay an elite goaltender yet. Against the Kings, he will. Maybe.

Kings: Jonathan Quick remains one of the most divisive players in hockey. Where some see a superstar who has the ability to elevate his game at crucial moments (and has a Cup ring to prove it), others see a goaltender who’s been merely average over the course of his career while playing on a great defensive team. Some see a stunning history of highlight reel saves; others see a guy who’s often left diving across the net in desperation after overplaying the puck. Some see a goalie who could outplay Lundqvist; others see one who struggled just to stay even with Corey Crawford.

The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, although it’s worth pointing out that Quick isn’t exactly coming into the final on a hot streak, having given up 13 goals over the Kings’ last three games. But he did earn his ring in 2012 by beating a future Hall of Famer in Martin Brodeur, so it’s not like the Lundqvist matchup is going to intimidate him. And the Kings probably don’t need him to win the head-to-head matchup — a draw would suit them just fine.

Edge: A big edge to the Rangers. Goaltending is notoriously difficult to predict, and anything can happen in a short series. Quick could absolutely outplay Lundqvist, and if he does, the Kings should win the series easily. But if not, the Rangers have a real shot at the Cup, and Lundqvist would be a sure thing for the Conn Smythe.

Defense

Kings: Drew Doughty is probably the league’s best young defenseman, and you could make a decent argument for him being the league’s best, period.¹ The rest of the blue line is also young, with Slava Voynov (24) and Doughty’s partner, Jake Muzzin (25), both logging big minutes, while dependable third-pairing guy Alec Martinez (26) recently added Game 7 OT winners to his skill set. Those four are supported by veterans Willie Mitchell and Matt Greene, while Robyn Regehr could return from injury later in the series.

Rangers: Like L.A., New York’s blue line is young and talented. The oldest defenseman on the roster is Dan Girardi, which doesn’t seem right because he has never seemed that old.² His partner, Ryan McDonagh, has been one of the breakout stars of the playoffs, and is tied for the team lead in scoring after lighting up the Canadiens. The Marc Staal–Anton Stralman pairing doesn’t get much attention but has been very solid. Kevin Klein and John Moore make up the third pairing, or at least they will once Moore returns from suspension after Game 1.

Edge: The Kings, although not by as much as you might think.

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20 Cupless Canadian seasons - Which was the most painful?

Canadian hockey fans probably don’t want to talk about it.

“It,” of course, is the nation’s Stanley Cup drought. With the elimination of the Montreal Canadiens, the country is now assured of going Cupless for the 20th consecutive season. During that span, we’ve seen Canadian teams fall one win short some years and not even come close in others. It’s all been very painful.

But just how painful? Oh, we’re going to talk about it, Canada. We’re going to talk about it in detail. Specifically, we’re going to look back at each of those seasons, and we’re going to rank them based on just how much it hurt. It’s the only way we can begin to heal.

So here’s the deal — for each of the country’s 20 consecutive Cupless seasons, we’re going to take the last surviving Canadian team (based on playoff games won) and rank the pain it caused based on three key categories:

Bandwagon factor: How much fun was the run? Was it a team that fans of other franchises could get behind, at least temporarily? Remember, any decent Canadian hockey fan’s default position is to root against the country’s other teams. But if the right story comes along, we can allow ourselves to get on board for a few weeks.

Hope index: How close did the team come? The length of the playoff run obviously factors heavily here, but the quality of the team does too. There are some teams that win a round or two without ever looking like a real threat to win it all, while others can bow out early but still have felt like they were this close.

Eventual heartbreak: Pretty self-explanatory — how badly did it all end? The previous two categories factor in here, too, since it always hurts more when you get suckered in by a fun team that looked like it really had a shot. We’ll award bonus points for losing in an especially painful and/or creative way.

We’ll take those three categories, then use them to come up with an overall rating (not an average), which will be the basis of our rankings. All of which will allow us to answer the question: In 20 years of Cupless Canadian misery, which years were the worst of them all?

It’s for the best, Canada. But it may hurt.

No. 20 — 1995

Last team standing: The Vancouver Canucks, who were swept by the Blackhawks in the second round.

Bandwagon factor: 3/10. This was a weird year. The first lockout had wiped out half the season, and even when play resumed it just never felt quite right. But the Canucks were likable enough, even though they’d already had a long run the year before.

Hope index: 5/10. Canada had won eight of the last 11 titles, and the Canucks had fallen just one game short the year before. We pretty much owned the Cup at this point.

Eventual heartbreak: 1/10. Ah, well, can’t win ’em all, right?

Overall misery rating: 2.3/10. Remember, we had no idea what was coming. We just assumed this was a temporary blip.

No. 19 — 2012

Last team standing: The Ottawa Senators, who lasted seven whole games before losing to the Rangers in the first round.

Bandwagon factor: 1/10. You saw the part about it being the first round, right? The Canucks were the only other Canadian team to even make the playoff this year, and they were the ones we expected to go deep. Once they were out, it took everyone a few days to remember Ottawa was still alive.

Hope index: 1/10. First … round …

Eventual heartbreak: 5/10. Any seven-game loss is tough, and this one saw the Senators blow a 3-2 series lead by dropping a pair of one-goal games.

Overall misery rating: 2.5/10. Shrug. After what was then 18 consecutive Cupless seasons, this one barely registered.

No. 18 — 1996

Last teams standing: A four-way tie, with the Leafs, Canadiens, Canucks, and Jets all lasting six games in the first round.

Bandwagon factor: 1/10. With four teams all going out within 24 hours (and a fifth, the Flames, eliminated a few games earlier), nobody had any time for bandwagons.

Hope index: 2/10. There were five Canadian teams in the playoffs. Somebody had to last for a round or two, right?

Eventual heartbreak: 5/10. Actually, this one needs an asterisk, because the Jets loss also spelled the end of NHL hockey in Winnipeg for 15 years. The franchise was known to be moving south once its season ended, so the elimination hurt. The others, not so much.

Overall misery rating: 2.6/10. Pretty much all of which is due to the Jets.

No. 17 — 1998

Last teams standing: The Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators, both of whom lasted five games into the second round.

Bandwagon factor: 6/10. Both teams had pulled off first-round upsets, and the Senators had won a playoff round for the first time in their history. If you were into underdogs, you could get behind these teams.

Hope index: 2/10. They were nice stories, but nobody realistically thought either of these teams was winning the Cup.

Eventual heartbreak: 2/10. Both got thoroughly stomped in the second round.

Overall misery rating: 2.9/10. Four years and counting. The drought was officially on.

No. 16 — 2001

Last team standing: The Toronto Maple Leafs, eliminated by the Devils in Round 2.

Bandwagon factor: 3/10. This was right in the middle of the Mats Sundin era, and was one of four consecutive years that the Leafs were the last Canadian team standing. Many of those teams were reasonably likable. This one was not. In fact, by this point everyone other than die-hard Leafs fans hated this team. I can’t imagine why. They seemed like such a pleasant bunch.

Hope index: 3/10. The Leafs took a step back this season and were just a 90-point team. And by now, the pre-cap league had firmly settled into the Wings/Avs/Devils era of dominance; if you weren’t one of those three teams, you were a long shot.

Eventual heartbreak: 4/10. While everyone likes to pretend the Leafs immediately fell apart after the Tie Domi elbow, they actually took the Devils to Game 7. But their season ended with a 5-1 blowout loss, making it pretty clear this team just wasn’t good enough.

Overall misery rating: 3.2/10. This was definitely the least painful of the (surprisingly frequent) solo Leaf appearances on our list.

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