The Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup over the New York Rangers in double overtime 3-2 after they tied the game earlier after catching a break on another terrible call from the officials and now the team is Stanley Cup champions after getting the call they needed in the series and once again they had it go their way after a blown call from the officials and they won it in overtime after Alec Martinez scored.
The Rangers are still on the brink and for the first time in what felt like forever, the team had puck luck on their side in the last game and now they are alive in LA for Game 5. The Kings refused to give any credit to the Rangers or even Henrik Lundqvist and said they lost the game and the Rangers didn't win it, but please, Los Angeles was outplayed in the first two games and won and that's hockey sometimes. The Kings are a resilient team and will not give up an inch to the Rangers and now the series shifts to the Staples Center and New York played well there over the first two games despite getting beat in overtime.
The Rangers had puck luck on their side at two huge moments in the game and that helped keep the lead and the scariest moment came with just over a minute left in the game. The Kings poked a puck through Lundqvist and it slid through the crease heading toward the net and amazingly the shaved ice stopped it clean in front of the net and Derek Stepan was able to swipe the pick back into Lundqvist and he was able to cover it up. The Kings tried to complain that it was an illegal play, but clearly based on Dwight King's goal they don't have as good of understanding of the rules and an official was right there to see Stepan and made the call for no goal.
The replay was even more dramatic, as the pick slowly stopped because of the ice and somehow Lundqvist had the alertness not to move his pads, which would have knocked the puck into the net. Lundqvist was excellent and he stopped almost everything from Los Angeles and they were relentless, including on a breakaway from Jeff Carter that he blocked with his leg and also a shot early in the second from Marian Gaborik that went off his shoulder and hit the crossbar.
Lundqvist had 40 saves on 41 shots in the game and he was able to hold steady during a furious run in the third period that saw Los Angeles out-shoot the Rangers 15-1 in the Garden, but Lundqvist stopped them all and had a little help from the hockey gods too. That number was the highest amount of saves a goalie has had to make in a playoff elimination game in NHL history. New York has no tomorrow and they will have confidence after the way they played in Los Angeles the first two games despite losing in overtime to the Kings in both games. The Kings gave up a 3-0 lead to the Devils and ended up winning in six games and now the Rangers hope to do the same and that would put the team in position to win Game 6 at home at the Garden.
The Rangers have been in intense series all through the postseason after playing against the Flyers and the Penguins and coming back from 3-0 is a tough task, but one they can deal with. The team needs to start out fast on Friday night and that could be their only chance at winning the game.
