What You Need To Know About Rangers-Kings Game 5

In what I used to think would be an inalienable good for the NHL, the New York team and the Los Angeles team are in the Finals. (Or, if you're insufferable, the Final.) The country's two biggest cities, one would think, would help ensure the greatest exposure to the culmination of what is not infrequently held to be the greatest playoffs in sports. Unfortunately, nobody checked to make sure that the teams at hand were sufficiently stocked with star power—with the exception of Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who combines chiseled handsomeness and superstar skills like nobody else in sports today, these players have nary a likely crossover star among them.

Which isn't to say that there isn't talent on display, nor is it to say that the games haven't flashed with brilliance. Kings defenseman Drew Doughty has at times looked as defensively dominant as vintage Chris Pronger, singlehandedly seeming to prevent the Rangers from possessing the puck in useful places, and even flashing skating- and hand-skills most forwards never match. In net, Johnathan Quick has had moments of pure, spectacular puck-stopping grace. On the Rangers side, we've mainly seen Lundqvist polishing the "best goalie alive" section of his résumé, which is still fun, even though we've been watching him do it for nearly a decade.

Instead of huge stars, then, what's been on display has been the never-not-contentious matter of luck, discussed at length on Deadspin and Grantland this week. Coming into the series, it was commonly held that the Kings flatly outmatched the Rangers, that if the Rangers were going to win games, they'd need to do it 2-1, carried by Lundqvist besting Quick in the face of the Kings mainly carrying the play. That happened—once, in the most recent game. A reasonable corollary guess was that if the Rangers gave up four goals or anything in that neighborhood, they were going to need some serious breaks to win. That happened—or very nearly, anyway—as the New Yorkers proceeded to give up big scores, catch huge breaks, and still lose the hell out of those games.

Coming into tonight, it's probably—probably—safe to predict that the win the Rangers finally mustered will only serve to secure them the "gentleman's sweep." The Kings, despite never leading in any minute of the first two games, won them both, and are feeling like one hell of a safe bet to close out the series. However, in the words of Twitter user Thomas Keller: "It's a full moon, Friday the 13th, and Henrik Lundqvist's 666th career game. I don't know what it means."

Means it should be a hell of a night, and a hell of a game. Somebody might even get lucky.