SCF Game 5: Send it back to New York

AP Photo/Bruce Bennett, Pool

The Rangers managed to avoid the sweep on Wednesday night, taking Game Four and sending the series back to LA. Now the goal is to make the series come back to MSG. It’s not an easy task, but the Rangers have been in every single game so far (Game Three is a stretch, but they had their chances). It’s been a close series, so there’s no reason to believe the Rangers can’t take another game.

Daryl Sutter has the Kings playing a system similar to that of John Tortorella’s Rangers. They generally run an aggressive overload 2-1-2 forecheck (forecheckers attack the same side of the ice) and they play a 2-1-2 zone defense off the wall (two guys take the hit zone, one takes the support zone, two have the slot). Once the puck moves up high, depending on the matchup, they’ll attack the blue line or collapse their forwards. They play a hybrid penalty kill, and a 1-3-1/modified umbrella on the powerplay.

Kevin did a complete preview and breakdown of this series here. Justin looked at Jonathan Quick and some deficiencies in his game here.

Rangers Lines:

Forwards

Carl Hagelin–Derek Stepan–Rick Nash
Chris Kreider–Dominic Moore–Martin St. Louis
Benoit Pouliot–Derick Brassard–Mats Zuccarello
Brian Boyle–Brad Richards–Derek Dorsett