Round Two Preview - New York Rangers - noles367's Blog

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Round Two Preview - New York Rangers

Posted on May 28, 2013 at 06:03 AM.

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Covering the Florida Panthers in GM Connected league ALHL2

Well, Round One was fun and all. There's something special about sweeping a rival like Washington out of the playoffs. Then again, there's nothing special about beating Alex Ovechkin early in the playoffs, since that is a yearly event.

Great 8? Ovechkin scored 0 points in Round 1

It's time to forget about the Capitals. Forget about how bad of a team they acutally were. Next up is one of the elite teams in the NHL:

THE NEW YORK RANGERS

The Rangers roster is full of talent - on and off the ice

The Rangers have won an impressive back-to-back Presidents Trophies. While that award is more or less meaningless, it's important to note that they have dominated the NHL over the last two seasons. Only last year's ECF win over the Rangers stood in the way of bringing the Stanley Cup back to the Big Apple.

Let's get this out of the way early. Yes, we all know the Cats won the East last year defeating the Rangers in the process. But, that was last year. Both teams have retooled and made some big moves. If anything, the Rangers will be hungry for revenge.

As for Round One, they predictably defeated the New York Islanders in 5 games. Not much to take from the series other than the Rangers are good.

Rangers fans celebrate their Round One victory in true New York fashion

OFFENSE

This photo was taken minutes before Gaborik's apparent "groin" injury

The big story out of Round One was Marian Gaborik's injury. Apparently he has an injured groin. The Rangers are keeping the details quiet, but it appears he won't be able to return until late in the series, if at all. This will be a huge loss for the team, as he is a perennial 50-goal scorer.

Even with Gabby out of the lineup, the Rangers have great group of forwards. They traded speedster Michael Grabner to Minnesota in exchange for former Panther Nathan Horton. Horton had a great 1st Round, scoring 5 goals. He's a strong, physical forward who can be a real force in the offensive zone as Panthers fans know well.

They also feature a good 1-2 punch down the middle with Patrice Bergeron and Valtteri Filppula. At wing they have a talented group with the likes of Horton, Nash, Mursak, and Hagelin.

Its safe to assume this is the deepest team in the league offensively, with or without Gaborik. The Rangers were the only team to score more goals in the regular season than the Panthers, so this could easily turn into a high-scoring series.

DEFENSE

Brent Burns: past, present, and future

As talented upfront as the Rangers are, they are equally as talented on the blueline. We see Brent Burns as the Rangers top d-man. He is physical and has a heck of a shot.

Ryan McDonaugh, Jeff Petry, and Michael Del Zotto round out a top-4 that is likely unmatched as far as talent goes.

While the rest of the Rangers D may be shaky, we expect these guys to get the bulk of the mintues. They all posses the ability to play great D and also contribute in the offensive zone, so the Panthers will need to pay attention to these guys.

GOALTENDING

Former Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist says farewell to the MSG crowd during his final home game with the Blueshirts

It's weird to look at the Rangers goal and not see Henrik Lundqvist in net. He hates New York City so much he would rather play in Buffalo. Not that we blame him. Either way perhaps the best goalie in the league is no longer in New York.

Jonas Enroth however, is. While he may not be as talented, Enroth put up eerily similar numbers to his Swedish predecessor.

Obviously Enroth isn't going to be as intimidating of a goaltender as King Hank ever was, but he is not to be underestimated. His play will likely be a key factor in the series.

KEY MATCHUP

The Norris Trophy cadidate Kulkov will be a major factor in stopping NYR

We're gonna go with the talented wingers of the Rangers vs the Panthers defensive corps. Kulikov, Ellerby, Gudbranson, etc will all need to play extremely well in their own zone. The Rangers will make you pay and as we know they can score a ton of goals, so it's up to these guys to contain the Rangers offense.

WILDCARD

Marian Gaborik. Will he play? It all will depend on how the series goes. If the Rangers come out and win in 5 games, we won't be seeing him. But if the Panthers can stretch this series to 6 or 7 games, we wouldn't be surprised to see him in the lineup.