If the Sabres finally grow up and realize that they're not entitled to the Cup simply because they won the President's Trophy, the Rangers will certainly have their hands full for the rest of this series. Personally, I'm putting my money on the Rangers to win this best of three regardless of what Buffalo does. To me, as long as the Rangers focus on playing their game one shift at a time, they'll win. That being said, the biggest factor coming in to game 5 is going to be Henrik Lundqvist.
Buffalo will definitely play hard at some point during this game. As valiantly as the Rangers team defense has been thus far, it's unreasonable to expect the team to be able to prevent Buffalo from generating some quality scoring chances. When those chances come, Hank's gotta be HUGE. That's my key to game 5 and it's also my biggest concern: Lundqvist has been excellent since the second half of the season, there's no denying that. BUT, there's also no denying that he needs to get tougher mentally. He gets rattled when he lets in a tough goal. He even gets a little shaken when he makes a lucky save or gets help from the post. It's a subtle thing to notice about Hank, but it's definitely there: all of a sudden his movements aren't as controlled, he starts having some trouble handling rebounds, he becomes a little indecisive when handling the puck and he just seems to be a little shaky. Champions must be able to live in the moment, forget the past, don't worry about the future and just take care of business right here and right now. If Hank is HUGE and stifles the Sabres, the Rangers will be o.k. Even if he lets in a goal, if he can shake it off and immediately refocus, the Rangers will be just fine. I'd put my money on Lundqvist and the Rangers.
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