Rangers Look to Avoid 3-0 Series Hole Versus Kings in Game 3

Certain phrases are used much too often in professional sports, but tonight is a “must win” for the New York Rangers in Game 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals against the Los Angeles Kings.

The Ranges are down 2-0 in the series after losing the first two games in Los Angeles, but return to the friendly confines of Madison Square Garden and cannot afford to go into a 3-0 hole against the Kings.

The Rangers have given themselves plenty of opportunities to win, but the Kings have come up huge at the right time in both games.

Just one NHL team out of 26 in the history of the league has ever come back from a deficit of 3-0 to win the finals of the Stanley Cup. However, that the one time was 72 years ago when the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings in 1942.

New York was ahead 2-0 during Game 1 and had held the lead at 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2 during Game 2. However, the Rangers just could not hold down the Kings.

With the exception of Game 1 in the third period when the Rangers were outshot 20 to 3, Allain Vigneault their head coach has been pleased with their play.

The Rangers head coach said that a couple of calls that were controversial went against the Rangers and played a part in them trailing in the series 2-0.

Vigneault believes that Dwight King interfered with Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist when the Kings scored their third goal of the game.

The New York coach also believes his team should have been given a power play just a short time before the Kings scored the winning goal in double overtime.

Vigneault said a defenseman for Los Angeles flipped the puck into the stands from his own zone and the play should have resulted in a Rangers power play.

However, the New York coach said he was not making any excuses for the losses. He said those things happen in hockey and normally tends to even themselves out at some given point and he hopes that happens going forward.

Lundqvist has played well in net thus far for the Rangers. He has a .908 save percentage. However, the top two Rangers lines have only produced two goals.

New York knows they can come back to win the series as evidenced by how they trailed the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 in the series and won three straight games to move on to the finals of the Eastern Conference.

Rangers’ players said they played better in Game 2 than the Kings, and know that in Game 1 they had more quality opportunities than did the Kings, but did not cash in on them.

Vigneault did not know the status on Cam Talbor the Rangers backup goalkeeper who has not suited up for the first two games because of an undisclosed injury.

The Kings will look to split the two games in New York at minimum to take at least a 3-1 lead back to Los Angeles for Game 5.

Pick: Rangers 4-3