One game that defined the season for 2 sports franchises on two separate continents, separated by 7 hours of ocean. A game 6 for the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Finals and match day 38 for Manchester United in the Barclay Premier League. And thanks to Twitter I now know that there is more than just a couple of us who share the same affection for both teams.
Anyway...in the Eastern Conference Finals The red team, the devils, were ahead 3 games to 2 over the blue team, the Rangers. The blue team hadn't scored more than 3 goals 18 previous playoff games so when they fell behind by 2 goals early in game 6 they knew they couldn't let up anymore because they just wouldn't have enough fire power to come back and as it stands they did not, falling in the game 3-2. Despite shutting out the Devils twice over this 6 game stretch the Rangers potency for goals was lacking that of the Devils and when the Devils needed it the most over the last 3 games of the series they outscored the Rangers 4-1 (game 4) 5-3 (game 5) and 3-2 (game 6) only solidifying something the Rangers fans had known for a while, that besides their 40 goal man, Marian Gaborik, they needed someone else to score goals.
Let's travel across the Atlantic Ocean to England, May 13th, 2012. Sunderland and Manchester, the only two sites left with a possibly EPL champion. This time the red team, the Devils, trailed the blue team, Manchester City in the goal department by 8 goals, the next deciding factor in who would win the premier league if points are even. As it was both clubs did have an equal amount of points and after Manchester City came back from behind and defeated QPR on the last day the standings looked like this:
Manchester City: GD +64. 89 PTS
Manchester United: GD +56 89 PTS
For the first time ever 2 teams tied atop the standing leaving it to goal differential alone. This, of course, meant Manchester City were Champions and Manchester United losers by only 8 goals. Thus showing United, who really lacked a secondary scorer after Wayne Rooney, needed more fire power to keep up with their rivals.
This lead both teams to look for outside help for scoring.
2 men, of a very similar situation were the ones targeted to help aid in the scoring department. Rick Nash and Robin van Persie. Each player had grown tired of their current situation and looked for a way out to a team that would produce what they were looking for: Trophies. van Persie had spent 8 previous season with Arsenal and finally in his last 2 when the team was crumbling around him he stepped up and led Arsenal to the top 4 of the Premier League both times with 18 goals in 2010/11 and 30 goals in 2011/12. Rick Nash had spent 9 seasons in a dismal Blue Jackets organization who only managed to amass one playoff appearance and no playoff wins. Nash scored 30+ goals 7 times over this time period announcing himself as one of, if not the top forward in the NHL.
There had been rumors Nash had wanted out of Columbus for a while despite signing a contract extension a few years back and finally just a couple of weeks before the NHL trade deadline it had become official that Nash wanted out. The Rangers were the perfect fit for him but at the time the two sides couldn't come to an agreement and Nash finished out the season in Columbus. Then the NHL season ended and the talks between the two sides sparked back up again and finally on July 23rd 2012 the Rangers had put together the right pieces and waited long enough for Columbus to finally crack and Rick Nash was traded to the New York Rangers.
Just a few weeks prior to the Nash acquisition, on July 4th 2012 in London, Robin van Persie announced he would not resign with Arsenal Football Club. After talking to the manager Arsene Wenger and Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis RVP came to the conclusion that he did not agree about where the future of the club was headed. This sparked a frenzy for the soccer media in England and for the rumor mongers on Twitter and the first name that surfaced to bid for the Dutch striker was the blue team, Manchester City. Soon after that Italian side Juventes and Manchester United threw there hats into the ring. After a couple of months of deliberation, discussions, contract offers, angry Piers Morgan tweets, and major rumors, Arsenal, on August 15th 2012 agreed to sell RVP to Manchester United and on August 17th he was officially handed a contract to sign and a United shirt to wear proudly.
Marion Gaborik the 3rd highest goal scorer in the NHL last season and Wayne Rooney the 2nd highest goal scorer in the Premier League last season (behind RVP)
RVP currently has 8 goals for Manchester United in 7 appearances altogether (5 in the Premier League) and even if there wasn't an NHL lockout the season wouldn't have been underway quite yet but because there is there is currently no stats to show for Rick Nash. Hopefully there will be an NHL season in the near future and I will be able to update this as each man scores and scores and scores some more.
Now these two athletes, 2 continents apart, who have spent the majority of their professional careers playing for one club in one city have a new task: to take the reigns on their new clubs and infuse it with that little bit of extra goal scoring they were missing in their "oh so close, but not close enough" seasons the year before.
The old adage is that defense wins championships, and maybe so, but in this case the best defense is a damn good offense!
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