Puck Daddy On Toucher & Rich: Rangers Have A Shot, But Blackhawks And Kings Are Far Superior
BOSTON (CBS) - The New York Rangers punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Finals Thursday night after beating the Canadiens in six games, and now they await the winner of the Western Conference Finals.
Greg Wyshinski of Yahoo! Sports Puck Daddy blog joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich show to talk about the potential Finals matchup and much more.
But first, let's start with Montreal.
In Fred's eyes, the Canadiens embarrassed themselves against New York for their antics, with Tomas Plekanec having the watershed moment in Game 5 for his blatant embellishment.
Despite Montreal's best efforts, Wyshinski just felt like from the start that the Rangers were destined to reach the Cup Finals, which they were able to do last night for the first time in twenty years.
A lot of people are saying that Henrik Lundqvist's chances of winning the Conn Smythe were dashed when he was pulled from Game 5. But Wyshinski doesn't feel that way at all, in fact he called Hank the "clubhouse leader" at this point to take home the prestigious award.
The Los Angeles Kings currently hold a 3-2 series advantage over Chicago and look to close it out Friday night in front of the home crowd.
Los Angeles has so many good players, like Jonathan Quick, Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar -- the list goes on and on. The same can be said for the Blackhawks, which is why Wyshinski believes the eventual champion will come out of the Western Conference.
"I give [New York] a shot simply because of Lundqvist. This is the best playoff run we've ever seen him go on. Obviously outside of getting pulled in Game 5, he has been incredible in most games. I think he's the great equalizer, as goaltending usually is in the playoffs.
"I hate to say this as an Eastern Conference guy, because I'm tired of the West dropping their pants on us all during these playoffs, but it is kind of men against boys when you look at this series. Blackhawks-Kings Game 5 was like two heavyweight boxers just throwing haymakers the entire time, while the Montreal-Rangers series was like watching two middleweights that knew how to talk really well, but weren't the best boxers.
"I do give the Rangers a shot, because I do think there is this destiny angle to this team, but either the Blackhawks or the Kings on paper and in reality are the superior teams."
Wallach argued that the Western Conference teams have been through the ringer with all their tough matchups and that fatigue could very well spill over into the Cup Finals, but Wyshinski countered that there will be ample enough rest where that won't be a consideration.
Listen below for the full discussion:
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