184 thoughts on “Stanley Cup Final, Game 1”

  8. I watch these lead-ups to the finals and it is the same thing every year………….I wonder how I could possibly have been following the Rangers, with players like Giacomin/Gilbert/Ratelle/Park, Messier/Graves/Leetch/Richter, Henrik/McDonagh/Nash/Stepan for 50 years and only won it once. Now I actually thought they were going to beat the Kings. I was shocked they didn’t, and it being 5 games most look back on that as a blowout. But just as the Rangers of the 70’s found new and creative ways to choke every year, so has the current edition.

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  11. It’s the NYR’s if something can possibly go wrong TYM it will! My wife and I are still stuck in this giant golf ball in Orlando and no way to watch the game. Does anyone have a link so we can watch the pens go down?

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  26. This is an example of the offside challenge working exactly as Mr. Bettman wants it to. 4 refs with whom Pittsburgh has a killer playoff record.

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  46. I thought leaving my phone at a bbq in neuvo jersey was the worst thing to happen tonight but then I turned this game on right during the “challenge.” Nothing but downhill.

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  57. Alex-No way. 1971-1974 they should absolutely have won. Nashville fans are getting a glimpse of what the Metro division has to deal with when playing Pittsburgh.

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  68. TYM

    disagree on the early 70’s. They lost it in 1972 due to Ratelles injury. Otherwise having to go through Boston, Montreal and Chicago was not something they were capable of in the other years. Those other teams were really good with players like Orr, Hull/Mikita and the Montreal guys.

    Liked by 1 person

  69. Every year they eliminated the champion from the prior year. They should not have lost to Chicago, Bobby Orr (and Ace Bailey) did them in, and then they went on to choke to the Flyers in 74 and 75.

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  70. Sioux
    Our centre with the best faceoff % was “lost” on the bench when faceoffs mean the most by the jack wagon participation award coach.

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  75. Cullen would help our team as a 4C for 1M

    Everyone laughed at me when I said that while he was available all summer long Best value on the ice for all that he does.

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  78. TYM

    disagree except the first sentence. Having to beat all 3 of Chicago Montreal and Boston was too much especially since they usually did not have home ice and home ice meant something then. They lost to Philly in a totally home ice series where Philly had the home ice and Rangers were already on way down. They lost to them once not twice. Their best chance was ruined by Ratelles broken ankle. So sorry but no chokes.

    Sioux

    Cullen wanted another cup and had far better chance in Pitt than here.

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  99. Alex
    Sorry, I forgot my (S) symbol at the end of my last post.

    I was basing it on some here and their “proclamations” at the start of the season

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  102. TYM

    it’s my opinion and you have yours. Philly had home ice and it was a total home ice series. They were allowed to play thug hockey especially at home. Quite honestly the Rangers were lucky to win some of the games they did.

    I guess that means Boston (Orr / Espo et al) choked in finals and others choked the following year for Philly to repeat.

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  109. It’s disgusting to watch the favorable treatment that Crosby gets. Gives a guy an elbow then passes the puck to a guy that scores. No call.

    I don’t know how Emric can announce a game with Crosby’s member in his mouth.

    The offside call that negated a goal was ridiculous.

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  110. Good morning Boneheads! Heading back to St Pete today our 3 day anniversary weekend comes to an end. Coos my wife loved your 8 years golf ball post it will be a classic and remembered everytime we go to Epcot!

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  116. That offside challenge no-goal and then the no-call on Crosby interference was not a good way so start the Cup Final. It is a good thing I don’t have much emotional investment it this one.

    SInce our season is over, I am looking everywhere for hockey.

    The Memorial Cup was on the NHL Network last week and I watched it all for the first time ever. That is some good hockey. Sean Day is a great skater with a huge frame. He made a few end-to-end rushes in the tournament that never amounted to much but almost made me stand up out of my chair.

    When Gorton drafted him it seems like all comments were about his poor mental process, poor attitude, fat. GM’s and scouts were saying, “Not with a 10′ pole.”

    I found this article that gives some hope. A change of teams, a new coach, maturity?, seemed to have made a great impact. A Ranger’s training camp and another year in juniors, we may have something.

    http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/article/memorial-cup-how-sean-day-was-reborn-in-windsor

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  127. Speaking of Shonny it’s hard to believe that a plethora of former ‘D’ tough guys who have successively coached defense here haven’t been able to show this group how to stay on their feet, not to wander, and to legally clear the crease.

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  130. good read carp thanks. pens in 4 just end this nonsense already. who needs shots. they make a play when they need to. too much being made over no shots for 37 min.

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  132. Nice article, Carp. Do you have an idea how the Rangers will try to improve? Free agency, trade, bringing up players from Hartford or playing the couple of free agents they signed recently?

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  133. Now I must tell you more of myself. I an unequivocally tall. I do not know any women who are taller than me. The women who *are* taller than me are lesbians, for whom 1969 was a very momentous year. For me, America is a first-rate place. Most of all, I am beloved of American movies, muscular cars, and hip-hop music. I also dig Negroes, most of all, Michael Jackson. He is a first-rate dancer, just like me. Many girls want to be carnal with me because I’m such a premium dancer.

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  134. Coos – I always had a soft spot for Miller after watching our draft pick leading USA to gold at the 2013 Worlds during the strike year. I don’t remember any of that talk negative talk about my boy JT :).

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  141. Back in St Pete home sweet home! Now let’s give the cup to cindy, get this crap over with. Time to get going with buy outs, trades, expansion, and head straight for October!

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  143. Back to the rangers…I’m not sure this team was that much better than the last season edition.

    Realistically, how many forwards did tanner glass out perform in the post season? If your answer is more than 1, we might have a significant problem.

    I’d say glass outperformed 5 forwards at least.

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  144. I don’t think Tanner Glass outperformed anyone. Did he play better than anyone expected? Sure, but the expectations were mighty low. However, he didn’t play better than anybody except his own putrid previous contributions.

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  145. I think he played better than Hayes, step, miller (hate saying that about miller, one of my faves), Kreider, and buch (but buch didn’t get a full post season look)

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  149. Stop with the Tanner Glass crap. We seem to forget his minus 3 performance in game 5 that included him skating around in circles when the tying goal was scored. But hey, he through lots of checks, and we know the team that throws more checks win.

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  154. Bruce Garrioch‏Verified account @SunGarrioch

    Dorion says Derick Brassard will have surgery on a torn labrum. Gone four to five months. Hopeful he will be ready next year. #Sens

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  158. I so want the finals to go to OT in a Game 7, and have an OT goal scored after 1:30 in the offensive zone and all the joy and celebration, only to have the call challenged and the goal reversed. This rule is the worst rule in the history of hockey.

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  162. People, my 3:04 was NOT a pro-tanner glass post, it was about the lack of showing up of other forwards.
    –
    So you can all stop trying to make that post something it wasn’t!

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  171. Just saw the Hockey Writer’s tweet on most NHL playoff games won over last 5 years. No surprise that Hawks and Pens are 1,2. But I must say that seeing the Rangers at #3, after reading the fan blogs which fixate on how terrible the team is, was a bit of a surprise. I guess maybe they aren’t actually all that awful….? Ducking for cover now!

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  172. Oh and also I hope Brass can make a full recovery. The injury goes a long way toward explaining why BGB was nowhere to be found in the playoffs. Seeing the extent of the Senators injuries did make me shake my head at the lost opportunity for the Blueshirts.

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  176. Teams 1 & 2 win the championship. Team 3 might as well have been team 23 because it didn’t win the championship, it got a participation award just like team 23 and 30 did.

    Last I checked, the goal was to be better than all the other teams and win the championship, not be better than most and get a participation award.

    Liked by 3 people

  177. Man, I have to say, I’m pretty disappointed with the trades. A few people had the right ideas of which teams to look at and which players to trade from the Rangers, but nobody put something perfect together. I’m picking from a bad lot.

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  178. I agree, and disagree Wicky. The ultimate goal is to win the cup. Anything short of that should be considered a failure. On the other hand, the Rangers have given us an amazing stretch of hockey over the past half dozen years or so.

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  179. Timing for the trade game is wrong(ly)… this game is perfect during the regular season after 2 games losing streak… then you’ll see the most creative trade proposals ever!

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  181. I thought some of the trades were pretty good. You did list as one of the rules, that YOU had to like the trade. Because if that were to be the case, the winner would be you. 😁

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