Rangers fans hope that returning to Manhattan will get their team back on the winning track.
Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Los Angeles Kings is Monday and despite the Blueshirts being down 2-0 in the series, there’s optimism in the air as the team plays its first Cup game at Madison Square Garden in 20 years.
“I would have felt better with a win Game 2,” said Bill Colasanti, 48, of Yorktown, at a fan rally outside the Garden yesterday, “but I’m a Rangers fan. You’ve gotta hang with your team. Anything is possible.”
After a second, devastating overtime loss to the Kings on Saturday night, fans Sunday looked like they’d lost sleep, but not hope.
“They won in 1940, 1994 — its 2014, four is their number,” said Dina Amendola from Long Island, who was joined by her daughter Victoria Amendola, 19, at the Garden .
Paul Shrager, 45, of Secaucus, N.J., was a little less confident about tonight’s game. “I think they can do it,” he said, “but [Martin] St. Louis can’t do it by himself.”
Much has been said about the Rangers finally coming home to play, and despite having a better record away from home, fans hope that the energy of the city will give the team a much-needed boost.
Paul Lomtevas, 47, of Hunington, L.I., is hopeful but realistic about Game 3. “It’s not going our way,” he said. “It’s very strong oppostion but I think we can extend the series.”
Despite the odds, Gregg Szumowski and his 9-year-old son Johnny from Lindcroft, N.J., were feeling pumped up about the Rangers’ chances.
“I am feeling awesome,” Johnny Szumowski said. “We’ve been going against the L.A. Kings pretty good … it’s our time now.”
