by Larry Leavitt

Los Angeles vs. NY Rangers: It would be a big surprise if the Rangers can win one at home as they face the Los Angeles Kings in game four and if the Rangers can win game four they face the tough task of facing the Kings in Los Angeles for game five.

The Kings are playing the way that they were expected to play, game three was a complete game. They really gave the Rangers a lot of opportunity on the power play that their power play is strong and they handled the rush of power plays and they handled that from the beginning of the game to the end.

Kings goalie Jonathan Quick got the shutout on Monday night at MSG 3-0 and it showed that even though they were out shot two to one he was able to hold the line and did a great job. Let’s face it the Kings got pretty lucky because there were some open pucks that the Rangers couldn’t get the handle on the stick.

Another example the Rangers Rick Nash had a wrap around with the whole side of the net open and just couldn’t get the puck on the stick. Sometimes it takes skill and a whole lot of work and a little luck and the Kings have a lot of luck going for them right now.

Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault put themselves in a corner here, the question is how good a coach is he? Are the Kings destined to win this thing? Can Vigneault take a chance to over coach this thing? He’s got some problems to figure out.

Right now the Kings are just out playing the Rangers, their giving the pucks up to a much quicker team. It’s questionable if the Rangers have injuries that the players are not admitting to and your never going to find these things out until much afterwards.

Vigneault needs to out coach Kings head coach Darryl Sutter and he could do it but he hasn’t shown it yet. Vigneault has to step up and elevate his team and get some of these players to perform a little bit better because everything is on the line on Wednesday night for the Rangers in game four.

Larry Leavitt is covering the NHL Stanley Cup Finals for http://www.sportsradioservice.com