New York Rangers practice at home before Game 1
By Cory Buck
The New York Rangers have a lot of travel ahead of them if they want to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup in a week or two. They’ll have to fly to Los Angeles later tonight, stay there until Sunday morning, then fly back home for a pair of games in New York. Oh, and if they can’t sweep the mighty Kings (as if) then they’ll be back on a plane from NY to LA for Game 5. So you’ll forgive them if they’d like to have one more practice at home on Tuesday.
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No one was more excited than star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist about the upcoming series. “When you knew you were playing L.A., the adrenaline started coming a little bit more,” Lundqvist told TSN reporters. “You’ve been thinking about this ever since you beat Montreal, but now knowing we’re going to L.A., it was easier to focus on what’s coming.”
But surely, it’d be nicer if you were playing, say, Chicago right? At least for the sake of travel? Ah, I guess it doesn’t matter. Either way, Lundqvist and the Rangers are in for a fierce battle in which neutral observers will give them a small chance to win. All they have to do to dispel all of that though is steal one game in Los Angeles. At some point or another, the Rangers have to do that much, and they’ll hope to waltz in and steal Game 1 right off the bat. Perhaps today, still in New York, the team is figuring out a way to do just that.
Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals takes place Wednesday night, June 4th at 8PM EST at the Staples Center in LA. You can catch the game on NBC.