Sleeping giant: If Rick Nash is stirring from his scoring slump, he could be a series-changer. (Scott Levy/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

By now, fans of the New York Rangers are familiar with the daunting challenge that is facing their beloved Blueshirts.

Plenty of teams have come back to win a series after being down two games to none, as the Rangers themselves did in their first-round meeting with the Washington Capitals. But not one has managed that trick twice in a row. And after dropping the first two contests in Boston, that’s the hurdle that awaits New York heading into tonight’s Game 3 against the Bruins.

Fortunately, these Bruins might be primed for another date with history.

After all, this is a team that has gained a reputation not just for lacking killer instinct, but for actively helping opponents up off the mat, brushing them off, and then rolling over for a game or two.

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Sergei Bobrovsky (center) could be a rare winner from a non-playoff team. (Getty/Icon SMI/Getty)

By Allan Muir

The NHL announced on Wednesday morning that Henrik Lundqvist, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Antti Niemi are the three finalists for the Vezina Trophy, awarded “to the goalkeeper adjudged to be the best at his position,” as voted on by the league’s 30 general managers.

It stacks up as an historic group. For the first time, all three finalists are from Europe. But the history isn’t likely to end there.

Six months ago, there wasn’t a pundit, fan or insider who would have predicted Bobrovsky as a finalist, let alone the presumptive favorite. Cast out by the Flyers, he was brought in to Columbus to compete for the starting job with incumbent Steve Mason. But after a slow start — he won just three of his first 12 games — Bobrovsky found his rhythm, carrying the Blue Jackets on an unlikely quest for the playoffs that fell just short on the season’s final night.

MUIR: How “Bob” rediscovered his mojo

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The spirited sell-out crowd at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall was treated to a worthy substitute for the recently cancelled NHL All-Star Game, with the proceeds going to Hurricane Sandy relief funds. (Tom Briglia/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

Once upon a time, some hockey executive — it might have been Phil Esposito — plastered a motivational phrase on the wall in his team’s dressing room that read, “Turn Every Negative Into A Positive.” Well, things can’t be much more negative for the NHL than this ongoing, ridiculous lockout and nothing’s been more negative during the last few months than the destruction wrought by Hurricane Sandy. Yet a group of locked-out players turned both things into a positive on Saturday night in Atlantic City.

To once again see Steven Stamkos slithering through defenses, Daniel Alfredsson making tape-to-tape passes through traffic, Martin Brodeur lofting the puck halfway down the ice, P.K. Subban dropping his shoulder and carrying the puck one-handed deep into the opponent’s zone, Simon Gagne breaking free from coverage, linemates Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry reading and reacting to each other’s moves, James Neal threatening to score every time he had the puck, and Kimmo Timonen making a perfect outlet pass felt like a reunion with an old friend.

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Few people get fired up about the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play and sportsmanship, however Panthers defenseman Brian Campbell will be a rare bird if he wins it. (Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

The NHL hands out its annual individual player awards tonight in Las Vegas during a glitzy, star-spangled gala that’s a far cry from the afternoon luncheons in Montreal that were hosted by Clarence Campbell.

Just as the regular season and playoffs were hard to predict as a result of the league’s parity, it’s difficult to try determining who the voters selected for some of the hardware, and there may be some controversial choices among fans who will believe that the wrong guy won. You have to keep in mind that the voting was done at the conclusion of the regular season and the award recognizes only that aspect of the players’ performances. The playoffs are not a factor.

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If the Rangers can’t get their offense going, stellar goalie Henrik Lundqvist will have to steal another win. (Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

Will the Devils be able to build on their 4-1 Game 4 win when they visit Madison Square Garden tonight for Game 5 or will the Rangers frustrate, if not disrupt, New Jersey’s territorial dominance and find the offensive gear that was absent on Monday in Newark? Those are the main questions facing these two teams in what is now a best-of-three and the only series left before the Stanley Cup Final begins one week from today.

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Brandon Prust’s suspension for elbowing Anton Volchenkov’s head in Game 3 removes some physicality from the Rangers’ lineup as they try to take command of the series. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

It’s Game 4 in Newark tonight and a big one. A Rangers win over the Devils would give them a 3-1 lead in the series and a chance to close it out at home in Game 5. New Jersey, which always won the big games it had to against the Panthers and Flyers earlier this spring, looks to even the series at 2-2 and make it a minimum six-game affair. And to add some fuel to this combustible rivalry, the physical nature of the series has heated up and the coaches are getting into it.

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Devils sniper Ilya Kovalchuk, who has been playing with a suspected bad back, must continue to be productive against New York’s tough defense and stellar goaltending. (Scott Levy/NHLI via Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

They’re not good neighbors, as we saw a few times this season, but that can make for great hockey when the Devils and Rangers hook up. Yes, there will be echoes of 1994, when New York won the Eastern Conference championship in the second overtime period of Game 7, but that was long ago. With the exception of Marty Brodeur, who is still in goal for the Devs, almost everything and everyone has changed, including the way each team plays: The Rangers are now the more defensive oriented club and the Devils are the team that might be stronger offensively. But both play a strong all-around game and this series will be a treat.

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Brian Elliott’s sudden reversal of form is the last thing the Blues need in their 0-3 hole against the Kings. (Harry How/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

It’s a cruel world in which goalies live. The numbers may tell us they haven’t been this good since the days of Georges Vezina, George Hainsworth, Tiny Thompson and Frank Brimsek but — then as now — gaudy regular season stats are meaningless when the playoffs roll around. The Blues’ Brian Elliott may have posted eye-popping numbers between October and the first round, like a 1.56 goals-against average and .940 save percentage, but in his last three games against the Kings, his  performance has been abysmal and will likely leave a lasting impression.

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The Coyotes will have to be resourceful and determined to beat Nashville’s stout defense that has been fortified at key moments by the monster goaltending of Pekka Rinne. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

We quickly move to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, what they call the conference semi-finals. Upsets galore, tight games, lots of overtime and fierce play marked the first round and that shouldn’t change too much now. With some strong teams knocked out, every survivor must figure that it has a chance to keep its playoff run alive. All it has to do is continue playing to its strengths, shore up its weaknesses and have a good game plan against its opponent. Easy, right?

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The Rangers have held Ottawa’s dangerous blueliner Erik Karlsson in check. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

A Game 7 at Madison Square Garden can make for an uproarious evening. The last ones there happened in 1994: the Eastern Conference Championship victory by the Rangers over the Devils in the second overtime period (“Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!”), followed by the nail-biting conclusion to the Stanley Cup Final against the Canucks. But if tonight’s Game 7 turns out for the Rangers the way it turned out for the Bruins on their home ice on Wednesday – if the underdog Senators win just as the underdog Capitals won — the uproar will be directed inward.

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