King Size Anger and Heartache

Dwight Crowds the King

How can a team get "jobbed" by the refs in a series in which they lost 4 out of 5 games and lost the battle for 50-50 pucks by nearly the same percentage? The Rangers were representing the Eastern Conference which was glaringly inferior to the powerhouse clubs from the West. The Kings did what was expected, finishing the Rangers in a short series after being pushed to 7 games by legit contenders San Jose, Anaheim and Chicago.  With their army of oversized talent at every position and 2 Cups in three season, the "Dynasty" word is not hyperbole for this squad. Yet, yet, the argument that the Kings needed the refs to beat the Rangers just won't go away.

Little Big Man

It was the third period of the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals. By definition, a troubling time for New York Rangers Nation.  In 4 of the 5 games the Rangers saw leads dissolved and Kings dominate their games to such extremes that the ice appeared to tilt toward the Rangers. Such was the case in game 5 when the hockey Hobbit Mats Zuccarello came flying out of his zone and skated into a partially extended leg of Kings D Jake Muzzin.  Ref sees high speed contact, Muzzin goes down dramatically, arm goes up, Zucc to box.  With the benefit of replay, U.S. TV analysts conclude that the refs sent the wrong man to the box.  This was a second crucial borderline call that the refs got wrong, and scarred the series in the eyes of NYR Nation.

Taking the macro view and using logical statistical analysis along with all mountains of visual evidence, the Kings dominated this series: Rangers players on hands and knees trying to survive the three games that went to overtime and their solitary victory; nearly a 10-1 ratio of shots on goal in third periods with the game on the line; a staggering edge to the Kings faceoffs, hits and grade A chances.  Yet upon closer review, without 3 glaring officiating mistakes, this series might still be underway. If you project the "What Could Have Been" argument to its extreme, the Rangers could be playing Monday with a chance to clinch the Cup.  The Team that played .200 ball in the Finals.  And that's quite a dichotomy.

None of these arguments could be made if the Rangers had any goalie other than Henrik Lundqvist between the pipes. He was the X-factor that kept the Rangers in all these games, and his will made this such a long short series. Five extra periods of hockey in five games is not a short series.  Now, keep in mind that these two calls did not determine the games, but in both cases the Rangers were clinging to leads with no margin for error, and the calls proved to be backbreakers, especially the first.  Game 2, Rangers enjoying their third 2-goal lead of the game, 4-2 in third period. If you recall, the Kings fans were ticked off, actually booing the Western Champs.  Mountain man Dwight King flashed through the blue paint of Lundqvist's crease, taking the route inside of Ryan McDonagh, leading to inevitable contact.  The jostling literally prevented Lundqvist from using his blocker on a puck he saw but could not save, and 4-2 third period lead became 4-3 and the building came to life.  To a neutral observer it was a clear case of injustice.  The best player on the ice was unable to do his job due to obstruction, getting no protection in his own crease from those whose job it is to do just that.  Hockey anarchy.  Do the Kings win without the benefit of that non-call?  Probably not.  As in probability-wise, percentage wise, the team holding a two-goal lead in the third period, in a building that turned against the home team, would have won.  And now you have a seed of righteous indignation planted and ready to sprout.  In the Overtime a Kings player lofted a puck out of danger in his own end, touching nothing after vigorous video inspection, yet no call. Insult to injury.

Rangers collapsed on themselves in game 3, unable to respond to Jeff Carter's dagger at the end of the 1st period, and the Rangers were in clear and present danger of being swept.  If this series had been a sweep, a strong case could have been made that the League's on-ice team in stripes had royally f***ed up its marquis event. That is anathema to the suits on 6th Ave and their ops department in Toronto.  It's really bad business and they know it.  And low and behold Game 4, in which most NYR transgressions were given a free pass and heaping helpings of puck luck allowed the home team blue shirts to salvage a single game of the Finals. But to most astute observers, the third period the Kings most dominant, and Rangers most helpless. They had won nothing more than a cross-country flight to see another team's coronation.

And then the game unfolded. A couple of U.S. College kids from Boston scored on consecutive shots, and the Rangers had yet another third period lead.  And as for the veteran Boyle, whose goal was the best in the finals since Darren McCarty in 1997, his performance in the Finals has earned the UFA enough wealth to send his grandchildren to Boston College.  Must digress on that goal, with seconds left before a giddy intermission.  He received a pass in stride at the blue line off a brilliant play from Hagelin (they really are Batman and Robin on the P.K.), he froze the best defenseman in hockey and (dare I say it?) gradefully stepped around the indomitable Drew Doughty.  Two strides late he caught USA Olympic star goalie Jonathan Quick shuffling to his right and BOOM, the wrist shot was stuck in the upper reaches of the net, top shelf.  On a Full Moon Friday the 13th, Rangers fans were in full howl.

And then the third period, and the now customary 3d period desperation for the Rangers.  The Kings seemingly endless collection of John Waynes on skates were rag-dolling the Ranger Smurfs, but unable to penetrate the proud Swede King Henrik.  Until they got that critical power play.  On a blown call.  Again.  As NBC's Mike Milbury said during the first OT intermission. "After a rough go of it early, they (the league's officials) were sailing along, and then this." Yes, this.  USA's biggest media market had taken a liking to these blue shirted upstarts, and they watched them get screwed (clearly not intentionally) by league officials, the majority of whom are hockey fans who live in the New York metro area. They have to hear from disgruntled fans about their officiating incompetence for the foreseeable future.  They made the bed, and they might have to sleep in sandpaper for a bit.

Lest there be any confusion, the right team won.  The NYR squandered 4 two-goal leads in the first two games of the Finals.  I sincerely doubt that has ever happened before. Had the Kings lost either Game 2 or Game 5, there is substantial evidence that they would have prevailed no matter how long the series went. They had, after all, done the same thing against three western opponents all superior to the NYR. The Kings are a force that is the new standard for NHL teams to copy: Big and Heavy.  And what a defense corps: Doughty, Greene, Muzzin, Voynov, Martinez and Willie Mitchell.  Combined with Quick between the pipes and you have a magnificent "Sacred Seven." While on the topic of defense, one cannot ignore the brilliant play of Rangers Anton Stralman.  The Kings might even have a little defense-envy at the play of this Nordic Hockey God, who deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Niklas Lidstrom. Yeah, that good. And before signing off on the reign of Kings, their young forward guns with speed, size, shots, and yes, weight, projects them into the Conference Finals for the next decade or so.

Some consolation for the Rangers fans, there are at least two Finals in memory in which the losing team got hosed worse than you did in the Finals. 1999 Brett Hull's crease violation Cup winner in Game 6, before the NHL changed the rule that off-season. It was double overtime in Buffalo and the camera crews burst through the Zamboni doors before any video review.  The second outrageous hose job was in the 2004 Finals in which the Game 6 video review showed persuasively that the Calgary Flames had won the Stanley Cup in overtime, only to be ignored.  Martin St. Louis got the game winner for the Bolts shortly thereafter, setting the stage for Brad Richards' heroics in Tampa, Game 7.  The late, great, Brad Richards.  Does that salve any wounds Ranger fans? That it could have been worse?