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New York Rangers (M2) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (A3)

Don't think it's the most important thing ever, but kinda funny to think that the Rangers have home-ice advantage here.

Tampa's the better team and should win this but honestly I don't think an upset would be the most surprising thing in the world. Especially if Point remains out or is playing at half strength.

The Rangers seem like they've been a little underrated coming into playoffs. They have the best goalie in the world (although Vasilevskiy is certainly trying to earn that title back), the reigning Norris trophy winner who put up another terrific season and likely just barely missed out on a nomination this season, arguably a top 5-ish winger in hockey, the 3rd highest goal scorer in the league this season, and a point per game centre. A lack of depth was generally their biggest problem during the season and something that Shesterkin was able to cover for but all their deadline moves to address that problem really seem to be paying off (Copp, Motte, Vatrano, Braun).
 
herman said:
Is it weird to play your farm team in the playoffs
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6i3v63.jpg
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Don't think it's the most important thing ever, but kinda funny to think that the Rangers have home-ice advantage here.

Tampa's the better team and should win this but honestly I don't think an upset would be the most surprising thing in the world. Especially if Point remains out or is playing at half strength.

The Rangers seem like they've been a little underrated coming into playoffs. They have the best goalie in the world (although Vasilevskiy is certainly trying to earn that title back), the reigning Norris trophy winner who put up another terrific season and likely just barely missed out on a nomination this season, arguably a top 5-ish winger in hockey, the 3rd highest goal scorer in the league this season, and a point per game centre. A lack of depth was generally their biggest problem during the season and something that Shesterkin was able to cover for but all their deadline moves to address that problem really seem to be paying off (Copp, Motte, Vatrano, Braun).
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Agreed. I know the inclination is to assign most of it to Shesterkin but a 110 point team is going to be pretty good regardless. I still lean Lightning here but I think you'd be hard pressed to even call it an upset if the Rangers moved on.
 
Bolts in 5. Everything is just clicking for Tampa right now, while the Rangers are coming off a pair of hard fought 7 game series.
 
bustaheims said:
Bolts in 5. Everything is just clicking for Tampa right now, while the Rangers are coming off a pair of hard fought 7 game series.
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Agreed. Its hard seeing anything other than an Avs-T-Bay Final.
 
Nik said:
CarltonTheBear said:
Don't think it's the most important thing ever, but kinda funny to think that the Rangers have home-ice advantage here.

Tampa's the better team and should win this but honestly I don't think an upset would be the most surprising thing in the world. Especially if Point remains out or is playing at half strength.

The Rangers seem like they've been a little underrated coming into playoffs. They have the best goalie in the world (although Vasilevskiy is certainly trying to earn that title back), the reigning Norris trophy winner who put up another terrific season and likely just barely missed out on a nomination this season, arguably a top 5-ish winger in hockey, the 3rd highest goal scorer in the league this season, and a point per game centre. A lack of depth was generally their biggest problem during the season and something that Shesterkin was able to cover for but all their deadline moves to address that problem really seem to be paying off (Copp, Motte, Vatrano, Braun).
Click to expand...

Agreed. I know the inclination is to assign most of it to Shesterkin but a 110 point team is going to be pretty good regardless. I still lean Lightning here but I think you'd be hard pressed to even call it an upset if the Rangers moved on.
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Yeah.  I don't think the Rangers win this but I don't think we should consider it a huge upset.  The team with the best goaltender can often win and Shesterkin this year is the better goaltender.

Tampa was on a better roll through the second round but they also sat around for an extra week waiting for the Rangers to finish their series.  That can cool teams off sometimes and at this time of year it's not minor aches and pains its what parts aren't being held together with tape.  Rest can make these guys stiffen up .
 
Andrei who?

It's funny that when we talk about how good the Rangers are/aren't we almost never talk about how their third line has a #1 and #2 pick on it.
 
Well that's not the start I thought we'd see for Tampa, but we've seen this movie before. Let's see how it goes.
 
Well game 1 looked a bit familiar, lets see what happens in game 2. Tampa was and still is very beatable, lets see if NY can keep it up and take them down.
 
bustaheims said:
Guilt Trip said:
They looked like a team that has been of for 9 days.
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Basically, yeah. They were not quite in sync. They'll be better in game 2.
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That's pretty much sums it up. Kucherov had 5 giveaways and that might have been generous.
 
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