by Larry Leavitt

NY Rangers vs. Los Angeles: If you had to watch the third period of game four in New York of the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup Final battle at Madison Square Garden first you would be wondering what the heck was going on. The Rangers really came out explosive, they came out with fire in them. The action in the first period was back and forth and they really capitalized on some good shots.

In the third period they weren’t just trying to hold onto the lead but it ended up being a 15-1 shots on goal differential, the Kings had that many shots and the only one person who saved that game was Ranger goalie Henry Lundqvist. Lundqvist kept them from being defeated in four games.

It was exciting, it was hard fought, there was a lot of close calls and I never seen twice in one game the puck sit right at the goal line and not go in. The Kings had done it twice on Wednesday night. Earlier in the series the Kings were getting some lucky bounces obviously the Rangers are getting payback because they play hard, they deserved to win, and they got a few lucky bounces going their way and came away with the victory.

The Rangers won’t be swept in four but wow now they see they can do this and the Rangers are hoping they can make this a second series starting in L.A. on Friday night for game five. Lundqvist saw a lot of shot on goals and he blocked 39 of 40 shots on Wednesday night in the Rangers 2-1 win. There were a lot of shots on goal and a lot of blocked shots earlier in this series hurt him because the puck ended up getting deflected into the net instead of being blocked.

The Rangers in game four were really outworking the Kings and playing harder than they did in the first couple of games and in the first couple of games they played really good. They just were getting those little breaks here and there. When a goalie goes down and can’t even see where the puck is and it hits a pad you have to look at that as really good goaltending.

Lundqvist was in the right place at the right time and knowing the puck is going to be there eventually and looking for the bottom of the net and trying to stop the puck with your glove or stop the puck if the puck goes up high. Great goaltending will always come through and Lundqvist played great in game four to save the Rangers for another game.

I noticed right away at the start of the game, the Rangers were collapsing right into the slot right in front of the goalie area between the two the two circles. They were taking away the cross passes, they were taking away the key area where you need to get through to make sure that the puck doesn’t get near that net and they really collapsed well in their defensive zone and as soon as they realized the Kings had the puck they all broke out quickly this is one of the other reasons why the Rangers and Lundqvist were able to save game four.

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