With a 1-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens – and our local boy Brendan Gallagher – the New York Rangers sealed a 4-2 Eastern Conference series championship paving their way to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in twenty years. Twenty years? Could it be that long since I felt the tear gas sear my nostrils after a Rangers victory?
The front page of today’s Globe says it all with a picture of a spent Brendan Gallagher, and an exhausted Andre Markov, moments after the game finished. They left it all on the ice and it wasn’t enough. At this time of year, through 3 rounds of the playoffs, there are times when a team just has nothing – has no edge and no push. Last night it was so for the Canadiens who didn’t really mount much of an attack against a team that looked fresh all night.
Bravo to Alain Vigneault, a terrific coach, who is now going to his second Stanley Cup final in 5 years. He does have his work cut out for him, though, facing either the Chicago Blackhawks or the LA Kings in the finals.
For fans in the big markets of LA and NY, and for the business mandarins at the NHL head office in NYC this is the perfect storm – a US rating blockbuster with us Canadians slaves to game with a choice of watching two somewhat unloved teams or doing handwork. But for us Canadians there is a certain lament seeing the last- I mean only – Canadian team leave the playoff race.
If LA wins I am going to name this the ‘Patsy Gallant’ Cup Finals. Patsy, if you recall, created a rocket of hit song in the late 70’s called ‘I’m a Star in New York….. I’m a Star in LA’. A Montrealer herself, Patsy won numerous awards for the song – the only problem being a controversy where it was alleged by many that she had borrowed the melody from a Quebecois song about nationalism. Ouch!
Can’t wait to see what happens tonight!
pucksense 