“Rangers” in the NHL playoffs this season is completely mediocre. Most likely struck off Gerard Galland’s team more during the series with “Pittsburgh”. There was everything in the kit: a toothless attack that did not live up to any expectations, a strange game from Igor Shesterkin, with which the main hopes of success were associated, and a powerful and diabolical “Pittsburgh”, traditionally raskochegarivshis at the Stanley Cup. “Penguins” confidently led the series to victory, forcing Gallan to remove poor Shesterkin from the site, who was swimming in this confrontation. However, the “Rangers” managed to turn the tide of the confrontation. Somewhere themselves managed to come together, but in some ways contributed to the injury of the leader of “Pittsburgh” Sidney Crosby. At the same time, Shesterkin came to his senses, remembering that he was the best goaltender in the regular season and as a result, Rangers reached the quarterfinals for Carolina.
Here, history almost repeated itself, but with the difference that Shesterkin always played well and gave incredible things. For example, he had two assists in Game 6 of the series. “Carolina” until the last game always won at home and just as regularly lost in the arena of “Rangers”. Suddenly, it was not Artemy Panarin who was to play the leading roles for Rangers, but Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox, who became the team’s main strike force in the playoffs. In the final game, Chris Kreider also joined, which buried the Carolinas.
Then, the “Rangers” are perhaps the most serious opponent of this playoff. “Tampa Bay” and in itself a very strong team, as convinced “Florida”, did not win a single game in the series, and here on its side it is also a very rich experience of playing in the playoffs. John Cooper and his team can skip any regular season, but then “Tampa” is transformed. Moreover, the “lightning” grows during the playoffs, to finally accelerate until the final series.
The Rangers have very little chance of facing Tampa. Firstly, here the genius of Igor Shesterkin is no longer enough. Tampa has a very diverse and powerful offense that will knock any goaltender down.
Secondly, if the leaders of the “Rangers” do not come out of oblivion, then it will be difficult to create something in attack. Typically, the difference in the playoffs is often made by ties that aren’t considered strongest by default, and Tampa has complete order with that. Everyone can make a difference there.
And where Kucherov, Sergachev and Co. cannot cope, Andrey Vasilevsky saves them. He didn’t have as powerful a performance in the regular season as Shesterkin, but in the playoffs we see the usual Vasilevsky trailing almost everything. “Florida”, the winner of the regular season, was far from toothless in attack, but Vasilevsky dried it up, allowing him to score only three times.
“Tampa” – the main favorite of the entire Stanley Cup, and Gallan should seriously think about what you can surprise his counterparts. But it looks like Cooper and his team have seen it all over the past two years and are ready for anything.
“Tampa” is more stable, more reliable, more variable and simply more powerful than “Rangers”. What can Gallan offer? So far, it looks like his team’s journey is complete.
Yahya Gasanov, Athletistic
Source: Sport
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
