TMMOTS Stanley Cup Predictions
By FanSided
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Nick Godin, Staff Writer
A lot of times when predicting the winner the Stanley Cup Final, you choose the better team to take home the Cup. In this case, statistically, and arguably in a performance base standpoint, the LA Kings are considered the better team. The Kings finished the season with 46 wins, 28 losses, and eight overtime losses. The Kings charted 100 points, scoring 206 goals in the season while only allowing 174 goals against. The New York Rangers, who also had a pretty good regular season, finished the year with 45 wins, 31 losses, and 6 overtime losses. The Rangers charted 96 points, scoring 218 goals while allowing 194 goals against.
So there you have it. The LA Kings had the better regular season, which means they’ll win the Cup, right? Wrong.
It doesn’t always work that way. In reality, this series could go either way. However, since there are so many people writing off the Rangers early on, here’s why they’ll actually bring the cup to New York.
As many know, some of the Rangers players have been hit with off-ice coincidences this year. 38-year-old winger Martin St. Louis‘ mother passed away months ago from an unexpected heart attack. Not only that, but Rangers centreDominic Moore has been dealing with the sudden passing of his 32-year-old wife, Katie Moore, who passed away in January of 2013 with a rare stomach and liver cancer. Moore was on an 18-month leave of absence, and returned to the NHL this year.
The Rangers have showed many times that, when sudden debacles appear, they, as a team, can band together. When awful things like St. Louis and Moore are dealing with happen, there forms a sense of urgency to finish off what’s been started. It’s no doubt that the New York Rangers want to win the cup for St. Louis and Moore, and it goes without saying that they’ll do whatever it takes to give it to them.
With all that being said, I repeat that it’s very difficult to correctly predict the Stanley Cup Champion. However, my prediction is that the New York Rangers will win the Stanley Cup in 7 games.