Los Angeles Kings at New York Rangers – NYR wins 2-1, LAK leads series 3-1
The big storyline in this series so far of course had been how Los Angeles goalie Jonathan Quick was outplaying New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist. It’s not without merit either as Quick came into Game 4 with a .938 save percentage this series while Lundqvist had managed just an .892 through the first three games.
With that said, the Kings scored a number of their goals (particularly in Game 3) off of deflections and partially-blocked shots. Those things happen when you consistently get outshot. Quick managed the shutout in Game 3 when the Rangers played well but the Rangers were outshot by a margin of 22 in Games 1 and 2. Whatever people may think of “shot quality,” whenever your net gets flooded with shots by a significant margin more than the other team, that’s a greater opportunity for things to go wrong. Like partially-blocked shots that end up fooling your own goalie. For the Rangers to win Game 4 and live another day, they would have to dominate the shot margin like they did in Game 3.
If Los Angeles were to take the Stanley Cup home with them from New York, they would need their big line to show up. The Kings had scored 11 goals in this series coming into Game 4 and Anze Kopitar had two assists while Marian Gaborik had one goal and one assist. The nice thing about having the depth that the Kings do, both on forward and defense, is that the top line doesn’t always have to have big games offensively for them to succeed. At a certain point, though, this is a line that has the talent to break through.
The Rangers took a 1-0 lead off a Benoit Pouliot deflection after a power play had just finished. It tipped off of Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin’s stick first before Pouliot deflected it just under the crossbar. The Rangers seemed to have been making a more conscious to get the puck to the net, attempting five shots on the first opportunity of the game. It was a marked improvement over Game 1 and Game 2 and a continuation of what they did in Game 3.
While the Rangers certainly didn’t win the shot attempt/shots on goal race in this game, they did when it mattered. The Rangers actually had a slight shot attempt edge (at all strengths) when the Kings scored their only goal mid-way through the second period to make it 2-1. Los Angeles dominated play the rest of the way as the Rangers sat back in more of a defensive shell, but New York had their fair share of opportunities to that point. Notably, the Rangers generated seven shots on goal in three power play chances. They failed to click officially but did get that first one just seconds after their power play expired.
The story of course was Henrik Lundqvist. Turning aside 40 of 41 shots, Lundqvist did get a bit lucky at times as pucks that had snuck through him that were laying on the goal line were swept out by his own players twice. This game was very much a yin to the yang of Game 3. The bounces, as they say, do tend to even out.
Though he was fortunate, Lundqvist was also spectacular.
Kopitar had probably his best game of the series. Several times he blew by Rangers defensemen as he seemed to find an extra gear that others could not. He didn’t score but was a 74.1-percent possession player. He also was stick-checked beautifully late in the third driving to the net by Dan Girardi or else Los Angeles may have tied it.
Game 5 goes Friday night in Los Angeles.
