Rangers Making a Legitimate Run at the Cup?
date
May 8, 2024
Files & media
slug
Rangers-playoffs
status
Published
tags
Rangers
Hockey
summary
The Rangers have been playoff contenders many times over in the past decade and fell short, what makes this 2024 team any different?
type
Post
The Rangers, unlike their MSG co-resident Knicks, have made countless playoff appearances since their last Stanley Cup in 1994. Hockey fans in New York are used to having lofty expectations for their “Broadway Blueshirts”, but the results have been few and far in-between.
The Rangers have made the postseason 7 times in the last decade, twice reaching the conference finals, so they’re no strangers to the playoffs, in fact, the opposite.
Many players on this roster were apart of the team that lost in the first round last year to the Devils despite having a 2-0 lead and additionally in the conference finals a year prior to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
At the time, the roster was comprised of mostly young players with no experience in the postseason. Those same players have grown and understand the focus and pace necessary to compete in the playoffs, moreover have felt the remorse in losing.
After rolling over the aged Capitals in round one, the Rangers now find themselves in another playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The last time these two teams met in the postseason was 2022, the result; a grueling 7 game series that certainly played a part in the Rangers fatigue down the road and eventual elimination in the conference finals.
The manner in which the Rangers dominated their first round matchup against the Capitals this year and earned themselves a much needed rest coming into round 2, is representative of how much this team has developed from only a year ago.
Players like Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibenejad who have typically been no shows in the postseason, are leading the way on the offensive side of the ice with 18 points combined in the postseason up until now.
Vincent Trochek, who won 58.7% of his faceoffs in the regular season has upgraded his dominance in the postseason winning the draw 71.7 percent of the time.
Coming into the series, the Hurricanes were expected to give the Rangers a run for their money.
National pundits of the NHL projected the Hurricane’s dominant power play would be the Rangers undoing, a team that was in the penalty box for over 760 minutes in the regular season.
With that said, the penalty kill for New York is now 10-10 against Carolina, Igor with 54 saves in game 2, halting .947% of pucks thrown his way in a double overtime thriller, so where are the skeptics now?
Undefeated through six games in the playoffs, the Rangers are establishing themselves as a clear front runner to make it out of the eastern conference. Let us not forget however, that we’ve witnessed a 2-0 collapse before.