Henrik Lundqvist Stands Tall As Rangers Force Game Five

Heading into game four, the Los Angeles Kings had the champagne on ice, getting ready to celebrate a second championship in as many years. After the way things look in game three, the Kings were riding high and the Rangers looked a little deflated. When the night was over, and all was said and done, the champagne remained chilled and had to be sent back to Los Angeles for a game five. The Kings went for the kill but couldn't get enough past Henrik Lundqvist, who stood on his head, turning in an outstanding performance, to help power the Rangers to a 2-1 victory. The Rangers offense got what they needed and Hank held the fort down to keep the Rangers in the series. Game four was almost a complete role reversal from what we saw in game three.

In Game Four, the Kings played with a desperate intensity, looking to go for the kill and end the series in four games, something that hasn't been done in the finals since the Detroit Red Wings swept the Washington Capitals in 1998.  The Kings got a little bit of "puck luck" in their game three win. This time in game four it kind of bit them in the rear end.

The opening period was a pretty even one, with shots favoring the Kings 11-7. The lone goal of the opening period came at the 7:25 mark and looked a little something like this:


The beautiful deflection was made by Benoit Pouliot, the goal being his 5th of the playoffs. This was a huge goal for the Rangers for a couple of reasons. First, the goal was the Rangers' first since the second period of Game 2, snapping a drought of 123:01. Second it helped infuse life into both the team and the fans, both of whom seemed down after what happened in game three.

Shortly after the Rangers scored the goal, they got a little bit of a lucky break on a Kings powerplay:


Anton Strallman made one of the most heads up plays of the playoffs, somehow being able to keep that puck out of the net at the last moment. So the goal and the big save had the Rangers taking a little momentum with them into the intermission. When the 2nd period got going, that's when both teams really started to step up their pace. Shot totals in the middle period when 15-11 in favor of the Kings, with both goalies, Henrik Lundqvist and Jonathan Quick, having to stand on their heads and be sharp.

New York would strike again, at the 06:27 mark of the 2nd, Martin St. Louis buried his 8th of the playoffs and 2nd of this series. The ironic thing about the St. Louis goal was it was scored the same exact way he had scored his goal in game two of this series. So now the Rangers had a 2-0 lead, something that had to be festering in the back of Rangers fans head. It came to the forefront a few minutes later. Los Angeles got back into the hockey game when, at the 08:46 mark of the 2nd, Dustin Brown scored a beautiful goal on a breakaway, his 6th of the playoffs. When Brown scored, it got most thinking that this could happen to the Rangers again. If you remember the first two games of the series, the Rangers had two goal leads in both games and lost both of those games. The goal by Brown really made you think that this could be happening to them again.

Thankfully, for the Rangers sake, that didn't happen. Once the 3rd period rolled around, the Kings totally dominated the Rangers, outshooting them 15-1 during the final twenty minutes of play. This was an exact role reversal from game three, which saw the Kings get dominated by the Rangers in the final period. In this case, in game four, Henrik Lundqvist played outstanding, even getting a little bit of help late in the game:


That one lucky bounce really saved the game for the Rangers, along with the fact that Hank played out of his mind late in the game. Quick had an OK night in net for the Kings, stopping 17 of the 19 shots he faced. Meanwhile Henrik Lundqvist faced a barrage of rubber, stopping 40 of the 41 shots that he faced.

So now the series heads back to Los Angeles for game five Friday night. From a Kings perspective, they were hoping to have put this series away in four, but now they have the chance to do it in five games. This could be a potential deja vu for the Kings. When they were in the finals in 2012 against the Devils, the Kings held a 3-0 lead in the series, lost games four and five, before closing it out in game six. I don't think the Kings want to come back to New York for a game six, they are going to try and finish this series off in game five in LA.

Meanwhile the Rangers are looking to become the 5th team in playoff history, the 2nd in the history of the finals, and the 2nd team in this years playoffs alone (Kings in round one) to come back from down 3-0 and win a series in seven games. They are one step closer to doing just that.

Game five takes place Friday night at 8PM at the Staples Center in Los Angeles!