The New York Rangers are in the Eastern Conference Finals: How They Got Here

The New York Rangers are in the Eastern Conference Finals for the second time in three years. They will kick off their series against the Florida Panthers on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. For the most part, the Blueshirts made light work of the first two rounds, but adversity had to be dealt with in Round 2. Still, the Rangers should be happy with how both series played out.

Round 1

Like many people expected, the Rangers beat the Washington Capitals in the first round. It ended in a four game sweep. The Caps just don’t have the star power and depth that the Rangers have, and they fell in four straight. For the Rangers, although some of the games were a bit close, their star players showed up when it mattered most and that was the ultimate difference. They took advantage of a weaker Washington team. They won the Presidents Trophy for a reason, and therefore, winded up with a very favorable matchup and outcome. More importantly, it was crucial that the Rangers ended a series early. We’ve seen in years past that the Blueshirts fell short of their goals because they had to deal with dreadful and tiring seven game series. This time around, more time off was beneficial for players going through injuries.

Series top performers:

Mika Zibanejad: 1 goal, 6 assists, 7 points

Vincent Trocheck: 3 goals, 3 assists, 6 points

Igor Shesterkin: 4-0, .930 SV%, 1.75 GAA

Round 2

The Rangers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes in six games. Many people expected this series to go the distance- and it almost did, but not the way the Rangers wanted it to. New York won the first three games, but two of them were because of the heroics of Igor Shesterkin, including a 54 save performance in Game 2’s 4-3 overtime win. The Rangers would go on and take a commanding 3-0 series lead, before the Canes would win two in a row to make it a series. Eventually though, the Rangers came through in Game 6. Things were looking very bleak until Chris Kreider recorded a hat trick in the third period to give the Rangers a 5-3 win. Had he not done this, we would be looking at a Game 7 and potentially even an elimination, something no Rangers fan would have expected after their historic season. Especially throwing away a 3-0 series lead, something that has only happened a handful of times in league history, would have had a lot of heads shaking and eyes rolling. Thankfully, that did not happen, and the Rangers handled business and did it when it mattered most.

Series top performers:

Artemi Panarin: 2 goals, 6 assists, 8 points

Vincent Trocheck: 3 goals, 5 assists, 8 points

Chris Kreider: 5 goals, 2 assists, 7 points

Mika Zibanejad: 2 goals, 5 assists, 7 points

Alexis Lafreniere: 4 goals, 2assists, 6 points

Igor Shesterkin: 4-2, .919 SV%, 2.80 GAA

Now, for the Rangers, these two series are in the past. They look ahead to the Florida Panthers as they continue their quest to bring home a Stanley Cup and capitalize a storybook end to an already historic season.