Jared Max: Is This The Rangers' Year? As With Anything, Timing Is Everything
By Jared Max
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Is there a more timeless saying in sports — or life -- than "Timing is everything"?
Be it a bowling bowl's release point or a fourth-quarter surge, early cancer detection or the first time you met your spouse, often the most critical factor to success is the word "when."
When did the Kansas City Royals play their best baseball last year? When did the New England Patriots assume the second-half lead in Super Bowl XLIX? When did the Kentucky Wildcats grab their final advantage over Notre Dame?
Every sport we play involves managing time — in the big picture as well as the current moment. Pitchers throw the baseball only when they are "set." Baseball teams limit pitchers' innings in attempt to conserve their energy for when it matters most. Quarterbacks manipulate a snap against the play clock as well as a fourth-quarter comeback against the game clock.
Kentucky was pushed to the brink by Notre Dame last weekend — much like the Patriots were against the Seahawks this past February. But, as any dominant team knows, how we start rarely matters as much as the way we finish.
One week ago, the New York Rangers were hotter than a hot tamale. Yet, in a span of 36 hours, their flavor transformed from Hot Tamales to Mike and Ike. This morning, the Rangers are ignited again. The question is: Will they be in sync and raging in two weeks when the playoffs begin?
Rangers fans were thinking magical thoughts until Henrik Lundqvist suffered vascular injury to his neck at the end of January. Shockingly, this high level of confidence spiked in Lundqvist's absence; goalie Cam Talbot played so well that many Rangers fans wondered, "Should they put Lundqvist back in when he becomes healthy?" Timing is everything.
Imagine being nervous despite holding a winning ticket on a horse who has a six-length lead at the top of the stretch? As a Rangers fan, this is how I felt entering Saturday's game at Boston. While there is no doubt that Lundqvist is a better goalie than Talbot, I feared the Rangers' momentum would stall when their rock returned. And it did.
The Rangers looked lost Saturday, falling behind 3-0 in the first period. Lundqvist was as rusty, individually as the team appeared out of tune -- playing as a whole band for the first time in two months. This was expected. After all, performance in sport is like science; the Rangers' chemistry had been altered. One day after their flame fizzled in Boston, the Rangers returned Talbot to the net at home versus the Capitals. Rangers lost 5-2. Uh-oh!
This morning, though, the Rangers are ignited again because of what they did last night in Winnipeg. The formed a clot to stop the bleeding. Twice, the Blueshirts overcame one-goal deficits. Then a dirty and vicious crosscheck by the Jets' Dustin Byfuglien against J.T. Miller likely galvanized the Rangers. Midway through the final period, Chris Kreider scored a most beautiful tie breaking goal and celebrated as if it were a Cup clincher. It was that big a goal. That great a statement. Now the question is: Will the Rangers be raging when the playoffs begin in two weeks?
Like baseball teams with lights-out pitching in October, hockey teams with hot goaltending tend to hoist Lord Stanley's Cup every June. With only six games remaining in their regular season, do the Rangers have enough time to regain recent momentum? The answer may lay in a scientific equation.
Momentum = Mass x Velocity.
The Rangers are like that guy who has gone to the gym five times a week since last autumn. Getting in tip-top shape for the summer will not be the stretch it is for those who have not worked out since the first week of the new year. Sure, the Rangers took a couple of days off from working out. But the Rangers are so conditioned that they can afford a critical lapse. Their mass is large and well-constructed. But their velocity remains the intangible that will dictate their strength of momentum.
The Rangers possess the necessary elements to ignite like potassium chlorate or explode like Mentos in Diet Coke. How will this experiment end? Time will tell. Timing is everything.
Jared Max is a multi-award winning sportscaster. He hosted a No. 1 rated New York City sports talk show, "Maxed Out" — in addition to previously serving as longtime Sports Director at WCBS 880, where he currently anchors weekend sports. Follow and communicate with Jared on Twitter @jared_max.
