Zuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuc

Game 1 at home he has to play. If they lose or get heavily outplayed then you might look to change things, but you don’t change anything after a sweep.

Fun times! The odds-makers know what they’re doing and they have Canes as a clear favorite here for what it’s worth. Igor got this. Rangers in 7.

Lmao what just happened

And now that he does that consistently you’re still expecting even more. If Kreider was what you believe he should be he would be the best player in the league and making twice what he does.

I'm "coming at you" because the Kreider hate is starting to get ridiculous. 3-4 years ago it was warranted when you complained about his lack of consistency, but now it makes no sense. He's been great for 3 years, yet you take every chance you get to put him down or say some shit about him. What was even the point about that comment you made? I would think a Laf and Kreider stan actually loves it right now. They're both playing amazing and helps the team every night. I don't see why, especially as a Rangers fan as well, it would be tough to support those two players. What must be tough is being Kreider's biggest hater over the last 3 years. That must've sucked.

I wanted him traded because I didn't see them being competitive so fast and I thought Kreider would net a huge return. I was fine with 6.5m, but didn't like the term.

I clearly remember you saying numerous times that we don't gift players ice-time, they have to earn it. Guess what - Kreider has earned both the ice-time, the PP time AND the PK time because he's been amazing for three years now. Lafreniere had his first good season this year, playing with Panarin. He hasn't deserved anything before this season and we're not breaking up a top 3 PP in league to shoehorn in a guy that has 57 points as a career high. And even if they were to do that Kreider would probably be the last option to take out. He's the one with a unique skillset on the PP. Fox. Mika, Panarin and Trocheck pretty much plays the same way.

Elite company. Thank god Gorton re-signed him instead of listening to (almost) all fans that wanted him traded. I was one of them and I'm happily eating crow now.

20% in here voted Rangers in 4... If you'd say sweep the first TWO rounds - then we're talking ballsy.

That is all true, but Carolina has great special teams and a hot goalie too. I would give us an edge in both categories, but it’s not huge and most of the games are played at 5v5. Knowing we couldn’t even outchance Caps at 5v5 I do think it can get really ugly at times in the next round. Shesterkin seems to be at this best when he’s facing a lot of shots tho. Hopefully he has a great series.

Maybe not bleeding chances, but they're not creating them either. 8-7 at 5v5 against this Capitals team is bad. You used to complain that without Igor standing on his head and the PP being on fire this team would lose. It's the same now, but you're acting like it's a completely different team.

Well as Brooks pointed out this team actually struggled at 5v5 this series. Total scoreline over 5 games were 15-9. 5 on the PP (1 was EN), 2 on the PK. Capitals had 2 PP goals. So at 5v5 the total scoreline was 8-7. Half of those 5v5 goals came in the first game. So going 1-0 with 67% xG is actually really good in comparison to the rest of the team, which is a scary thought tbh.

Can't really ask for more from a 3rd line. Will be interesting to see what changes, if any, Lavvy makes for the 2nd round. Carolina are much faster than Caps and there might not be much reason to have Rempe in the lineup. I still want Cuylle - Chyts - Kakko with Wennberg on the 4th line with Vesey and Goodrow, but it's also dumb to mess with what's working. I'm sure he'll roll the same lineup in game 1, but if they were to lose it will be interesting to see what changes he'll make.

I thought my call was good lol. Wtf is this sorcery

Maybe I'll just stop watching the games from now on. It's boring when you know the result before puck drop...