SANTA MONICA, Calif. — It didn’t seem like Alain Vigneault was entirely surprised, but he was absolutely impressed.
One day after the Rangers coach had lost Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals to the Kings, 3-2 in overtime, on Wednesday night at the Staples Center, he was reverent in his praise of his opponent. Sitting at the team’s hotel on the beach in Santa Monica, while his players frolicked on the boardwalk and enjoyed the California sun, Vigneault sent a message to his team that no longer can they cruise along, no longer can they have even the slightest letdown.
Because if they do, the Kings are going to bury them.
“One thing that’s real evident to me, and it should be to our whole group, is we’re not going to beat this team if we do not all bring our A-game,” Vigneault said. “It is that strong of an opponent that we’re playing against.
“I don’t want to name who I think brought their A-game [in Game 1], but our B-game won’t do it. We’re not going to win if we bring our B-game to the table.
“They’re one of the best teams I’ve seen in a long time,” he continued. “Areas to exploit, they don’t jump out at you. We’re going to have to be better than we were.”
With that kind of assessment, one might be led to believe the Rangers were run out of the building in Game 1, and that was not the case. They were the better team for the first 20 minutes, played somewhat even in the second 20, and then were just demolished in the final 24:36, needing just a touch of overtime before Justin Williams ended it by taking advantage of a ghastly Dan Girardi turnover.
“They’re a good team,” said winger Carl Hagelin, the Rangers’ best player all night. “If you give them time to skate with the puck, time to spend a lot of time in our end, they’re going to do a good job. They have big bodies. They’re never going to give up.”
The Blueshirts have had their fair share of challenges through the first three rounds of the playoffs, but they have yet to play a team quite like the Kings, with a level of size, strength, skill and experience that the Flyers, Penguins or Canadiens did not bring to the table.
“It’s something we discussed, how good the opponent was,” Vigneault said. “That’s a challenge. You know, at this time of the year, to win you got to bring your A-game. That’s each and every player.
“When we played Game 6 against Montreal, each and every player brought his A-game. It’s not an easy thing to do. But against this opponent, if are expectations are – and I do believe our expectations are to win – we have to find a way to do it.”
The Rangers have made a memorable playoff run by finding ways to win games, reaching their first Cup final in 20 years. They have shown admirable resiliency to match their speed and talent and stout defensive structure.
And in each series, they have shown respect for their opponent, crediting the Flyers for their physicality, the Penguins for their skill and the Canadiens for their disciplined style.
But now the Kings come along, and it seems the Rangers’ eyes have been opened to the ways of the West. In the estimation of Vigneault, the Kings have improved since winning the Cup two years ago, and that leaves his team with a monumental task.
And it leaves the coach with the problem of trying to get all his players to raise their level. He said the places he can point to in recognizing his team has its best game is in the “compete level [and] all the one‑on‑one battles.”
“There are tons that you can see when your guys are there [and] you know they’ve got their A-game,” Vigneault said. “When it’s not there, ‘B’ is not going to cut it against this team.”