MONTREAL — It was the strangest thing, really, deplaning for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals and then having to go through customs. … I mean, I know Boston likes to think of itself as a country all to its own, but customs? And the accent? When did Boston come with a French accent?
Ah, but it wasn’t Boston, now was it, and it isn’t the Bruins whom the Rangers will meet starting Saturday afternoon for the right to play for the Stanley Cup, is it?
Nope, the NHL’s surest thing wasn’t sure at all. For the Blueshirts will be meeting the Canadiens, two stepchildren of the East emerging after toppling marquee favorites, yet powerhouses by reputation only, Pittsburgh and Boston.
It’s twice in three years in the NHL’s final four for the Rangers, and as their reward they get a strong, deep, confident, charismatic opponent that will either be buoyed or dragged under by the pressure/opportunity to become the first Canadian team to advance to the Final since the Oilers came out of the eighth seed in the West in 2006, and the first Canadian team to lift the chalice since the Habs of 1993.
Crosby and Malkin are down and out and so is Big Chara and that big galoot Lucic. No Pittsburgh this year. No Boston either. But the NHL has a marquee matchup here, Canada’s Team against Broadway’s Team.
Oh, and for the fans in Stockholm, a rematch of the Olympic gold medal game goaltenders between Canada’s and Montreal’s splendid Carey Price and New York’s and Sweden’s King Henrik of Lundqvist.
Apparently any time Price is in the same arena as Lundqvist, he pitches a shutout, for it was 3-0 in Sochi, Russia, for his side.
“That game, Canada probably outshot us 40-20,” silver medal winner Carl Hagelin said following the Blueshirts’ practice on Friday, off by just a bit from the 36-24 official total. “Price didn’t have much to do in that game.
“Hank did.”
There is always plenty for Lundqvist to do in Montreal, yet not much of it lately has pertained to hockey. Former coach John Tortorella basically stopped going to him here, noting how former backup Martin Biron “settled the team down.” Alain Vigneault followed by playing Cam Talbot in both matches here this season, the first of which the Rangers won 1-0, the latter of which they
lost 1-0 on an overtime penalty shot.
Lundqvist enters this confrontation at the top of his game, on the ice and as a teammate. He is the name above the title on the marquee, there is no doubt about that, but there isn’t a single conversation in which The King’s favorite pronoun isn’t “us” or “we.”
The Rangers aren’t a “me” team and haven’t been for a very long time. It’s an unselfish group willing and able to sacrifice for a common cause. There are no prima donnas in the room.
Then there is P.K. Subban on the other side. Just kidding.
The Canadiens took everything Boston had in the last round and spit it right back. They reduced Milan Lucic to sputtering petulance and turned the mighty Bruins into bullies who couldn’t handle it when some sand was kicked in their faces.
In two years on the job, Montreal general manager Marc Bergevin has turned it around after inheriting rubble left behind by predecessor Pierre Gauthier, whose mailbox should be flooded with thank-you notes from Rangers fans for his role as an architect of the Ryan McDonagh deal.
Bergevin has constructed an entertaining, deep team with a mobile defense supported by outstanding goaltending. The Canadiens are kind of a mirror image of the Rangers, though probably quicker and probably not quite as strong defensively on the blue line.
They are a historical mirror image of the Rangers, too, if the mirror is in a fun house. Bleu Blanc et Rouge have won 24 Cups, the most ever and 11 more than next-in-line Toronto, while the Blue, Red and White have won four, least of the Original Six.
Now Montreal is four wins away from playing for its first Cup and Canada’s first Cup in 21 years, which constitutes more than a lifetime.
There are two hungry, deep, quality teams here. It should be a terrific and entertaining series. I only have one question:
Where’s the chowdah?