Lundqvist and Rangers Fume Over Officiating and Loss
New York came out guns blazing and jumped out in front to a 2 goal lead on the strength of a Ryan McDonagh blast and a Mats Zuccarello tap in. However the LA Kings once again came from behind by 2 goals in double OT to get the win and head into NY up 2 games to none.Â
LA KINGS 5 vs. NY RANGERS 4 2OT (Kings lead series 2-0)
L.A. was on the board 1:46 into the 2nd period when Brad Richards made a bad pass that was intercepted at the NY blue line. A wild scramble ensued that eventually led to a Jarrett Stoll goal into a wide open net. The play looked like it was straight out of a Three Stooges movie.
Marty St . Louis converted a pretty feed from Derek Stepan to make it 3-1 on the PP. Restoring the 2 goal lead for a 2nd time, only to see a Willie Mitchell PPG cut it to 3-2. Derrick Brassard would make 4-2 just 11 seconds later and the Rangers for the 3rd time had a two goal lead (4th time in the series) heading into the third period.
THE NON CALL
The complexion of this game was changed dramatically on a non call. Dwight King skated into the paint behind McDonagh and into Lundqvist. With King on top of his right pad a simple wrist shot from Matt Greene glanced off King and into the net to cut the lead to 4-3 1:58 in.
Lundqvist and the Rangers were livid as in the 2nd period, Benoit Pouliot was called for a goalie interference at 7:07 on basically the same play, only there was no shot being directed at Jonathan Quick.
The ref told Lundqvist, the puck was already by you when he made contact. The travesty in that statement is replays showed that not to be the case as soon as it happened. Regardless, it was a momentum swing that led to Marian Gaborik’s game tying goal just minutes later.
GAME OVER
Like a horror movie playing in our minds, all I see is Mats Zuccarello unable to score with the entire top portion of the net open. Kreider missing on a breakaway is worst than any scene from the Exorcist. Bottom line, this one is going to give Rangers fans nightmares for awhile.
Finally, L.A.’s captain Dustin Brown ended it in double OT with a deflection in front of Lundqvist. The Kings would weather the storm NY sent their way for nearly 30 minutes of OT before scoring the eventual game winner.
GAME 3Â AT MSG
The scene now shifts to Madison Square Garden on Monday night at 8pm. History says that the LA Kings are well on their way to winning the Cup. 90% of teams that go up 2-0 in the Final have gone on to win.
Close is just not good enough for the Rangers and there is little solace in it. Vigneault will have the benefit of last change, but the real key to a win will be if the Rangers can find a way to go up by 3 and see if that is good enough.
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