New York Rangers’ Game 7 Dominance
If your newsfeed is inundated with hockey articles from different media sources like mine is then you already know the New York Rangers are pretty good in Game 7s on home ice. And by pretty good, I mean they are 7-0 in that exact situation in franchise history.
Henrik Lundqvist has been in goal for a majority of those, holding a 4-0 record in home-ice Game 7s. Not to mention he has a 15-3 record in games since 2012 where the Rangers faced elimination. Please, feel free to bow down to the King and his superhuman-like powers in high-pressure games!
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So, should the Tampa Bay Lightning be worried?
If their afraid of past events and some numbers then sure I guess the team should be worried. But I doubt that’s what Lightning coach Jon Cooper is telling his team.
“I think it’s to me and to our team,” said head coach Jon Cooper, “their 7-0 record or whatever it is, that hasn’t happened against us. Everything is in the past.”—Puck Daddy
Right you are Jon.
Not to take anything away from the Rangers or Lundqvist, but these stats do not mean New York is invincible (clearly, it hasn’t won a Stanley Cup since the ‘90s). Does this record give the Rangers a slight edge? Maybe in the sense that it gives the players confidence. It’s never a bad thing to have history on your side.
But like I have come to learn being a New York Yankees fan, people will tell you history doesn’t matter when it comes to the present and future (man, do people hate when you mention those glorious 27 World Championships). Just because a team has accomplished something in the past doesn’t mean it will repeat the feat every time the same situation arises. So, just like home-ice doesn’t guarantee a win, neither does the Rangers current Game 7 record.
There are a lot of moving pieces in sports. Young players develop, old players retire and new players join the team. No team stays the same season to season and that affects the outcome of a game more than anything else. While the Rangers have a core group of players that have excelled in Game 7 scenarios, it also has some players who rarely experienced postseason success.
The Rangers entire team, the roster playing this postseason, has only a 1-0 record in Game 7s. The same goes for the Bolts. Shouldn’t that be the number more people are looking at? It isn’t what have you done in the past or what you might be able to do in the future; Game 7 is all about what are you going to do right now!
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One game, one winner, and one more shot at the Stanley Cup. This is the scenario for both teams. You know every player on the ice wants to be a champion, wants to raise that Cup. So, they are all going to throw away the numbers and make their own history.
The Rangers streak will end eventually; mostly everything comes to an end. Will that streak end tonight? Well, I guess that’s up to how the Rangers and Lightning play. Who wants it more?
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