The President's Trophy

I thought it was fitting that on the night the Rangers clinched top spot in the NHL, the President's Trophy, Cam Talbot was in the net and got the win. Yes, it was only 19 saves, but his biggest save was in saving the season. Remember when the King went down and there were cries for a veteran goalie. Not here. Not in this space. Monday night they gave him the Steve McDonald award and it says right here that tomorrow night they should give him the team MVP award.

Talbot went 21-9-4 with a GAA of 2.21, 4th in the NHL, and a save % of .926, 4th in the NHL. Those two numbers are better than Lundqvist's, as a comparison. But the King is back and if we are to go to the top, we need the King. But lets give this kid his due and thank him for his huge efforts during the Kings absence.

The Rangers continue to roll. The Devils went to Flyer Retro in an attempt to harm the Rangers, but the Rangers made them pay with another loss to the Rangers. After the Columbus game this one was a snorer. The Columbus game was one of the more exciting games I've seen in all my years. Columbus was on a roll of its own, nine straight wins, so the game was a prelude to a playoff game.

Two to go and then the real season starts. Remember, the last time the Rangers won the President's Trophy, 1994, we also won the Cup. Good omen.

ICINGS:

It's not a curse. 

Wikipedia: The idea of a President's Trophy curse, though, depends on misunderstanding the actual chances that any playoff team will win the Stanley Cup in a given year. In reality the team winning the President's Trophy has a better chance of also winning the Cup than does any other playoff seed: thus far 8 out of 28, or 29 percent, of President's Trophy winners have won the Cup. If all 16 playoff teams were rated equally each one would have only a 6 percent chance of going all the way. Also four President's Trophy winners have lost the Stanley Cup Final, so a President's Trophy team has nearly 50 percent odds of reaching the Final. Winning the President's Trophy is a positive, not negative, indicator for a team's chances of winning the Stanley Cup.

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