Let's Play One More

The Los Angeles Kings had the chance to be the first team to sweep another in the Stanley Cup Finals in 16 years, but their effort fell short, failing to close out the New York Rangers at Madison Square Gardens on Wednesday night.  The 2-1 regulation loss means that the two teams will head back to Los Angeles to play Game Five on Friday night.

The Rangers found a little bit of that puck luck that they were missing in Game Three, as they were able to receive a few kind bounces and fortunate circumstances, aiding their attempt to stay alive in these playoffs.

Benoit Pouliot opened the scoring for New York in the 1st period, getting his stick on a John Moore point shot, deflecting it past Jonathan Quick.  Martin St. Louis shoveled in a loose rebound after an odd-man rush into the Los Angeles zone put a shot in on the Kings keeper, one Quick couldn't quite handle, making the game 2-0 for the home side.

In this series, the Rangers were 0-2 when going up by a couple of goals, so there had to be some nervous nellies in the building.  Only a couple minutes after St. Louis put the Rangers up by a pair, Dustin Brown broke away on a turnover and made a nice move to get the Kings on the board, cutting the lead in half.

That would be the closest the Kings would get on the scoreboard, despite getting the puck to the goal line in the 3rd period.  Los Angeles managed to direct 41 shots at Henrik Lundqvist, not to mention the 20 shot attempts that were blocked by other Rangers on the ice.  You can't fault the Kings' effort on Wednesday night, but it just wasn't to be.

The Lundqvist win and the St. Louis winning goal helped propel Travis G. into a 4-point lead in the pool, as he could now be considered to be running away with the lead after Game Four. Corey M. did get points from Moore and Brassard, but it wasn't enough to keep pace with the leader.

Travis finished the night with 263 points, followed by Corey & Gus M.'s first team with 259 and then Gus' second team with 256.  Wes still sits on the outside with 253 points and Dale B. fell further behind at 251.

Gus' second team leads the final round of the playoffs with 20 points now, thanks to St. Louis, Zuccarello and Lundqvist on the Rangers side.