There are plenty of things you can attribute to the Rangers’ success in these playoffs. Timely goal scoring from guys like Chris Kreider or Marian Gaborik is one. Great goaltending from Henrik Lundqvist is a no-brainer as is their ability to block shots and defend like crazy.
Larry Brooks of the New York Post says the team’s heart is what really drives them, however. Brooks talks about how the Rangers keep finding ways to bounce back time and time again in the playoffs and they do it with aplomb.
You can quantify shots, attempts, blocked shots, turnovers, faceoff results and hits. You can account for possession time and zone time to the second.
But you can’t measure heart. You can’t even really see it. You can only feel it. And for 100 games, everyone has felt the heartbeat of the Rangers, who are down to their moments of truth entering tonight’s Game 5 at the Garden in a Battle of the Hudson that is even only in the scorebooks, even if that’s the only place that really counts.
Heart is admirable but it’s the ability to put teams away that will help get them to the Stanley Cup finals against the Kings. Lundqvist has been his usual stellar self but unless the Rangers find ways to fill the net, their amazing run this season could see them fall short of their ultimate goal. Can heart score goals? New York hopes so.