The Rangers just completed their best regular season ever. Can they now lift their first Stanley Cup in 30 years?
That pursuit begins this weekend with a first-round matchup with the Washington Capitals in the NHL Playoffs. The loaded Rangers, who won the Presidents’ Trophy and had home field advantage during the play-offs, should be heavy favorites. But the Caps have been surprising people — maybe even themselves — for weeks, clawing their way into the final playoff spot.
Washington (31-40-11) sold at the trade deadline, for crying out loud, and still ended up here. They have a goal differential of minus 37 – the worst among play-off teams – and yet they have made it this far. By comparison, the Rangers’ goal difference is plus-53.
Now the Caps have a chance to topple a juggernaut, and they still have some veteran players in the Cup who remember what it was like to win it all in 2018. That’s much more recent than 1994, you know.
But the Rangers (55-23-4) are a complete team with a sharp goaltender, ruthless special teams and a knack for comebacks. Expectations on Broadway are sky-high after a sparkling season. Maybe this is the postseason that makes everyone forget last year’s first-round upset and how long it’s been since the Rangers won the Cup.
First, the Blueshirts must endure a series full of subplots. Here are some of those and what could tip the series:
The power (game) and the glory?
Entering action on Wednesday (the league still has a pair of regular-season games underway), the Rangers ranked third on the power play, scoring on 26.4 percent of their attempts and on the penalty kill, stopping 84.5 percent of the opponent’s PP. chances.
Both represent a big Blue advantage against Washington, which ranks 17th in PP and 18th in PK, especially since open ice tends to shrink in rough playoff hockey. The Rangers scored the fourth-most power-play goals in the league this year and their PP was a strength for an offense that ranked seventh in goals per game (3.39). If you’re concerned about how the Rangers do 5-on-5, special teams will likely be crucial.
Ovi My goodness
The Rangers will have to deal with all-timer Alex Ovechkin In the series. He may be 38 years old, but he’s still a dangerous goalscorer (a team-best 31 this year, 853 in his career) and a former Conn Smythe Trophy winner (2017-18).
He is playing in his 15th playoffs since debuting in 2005–06 and has 72 career playoff goals, which ranks 15th in NHL history. Ovechkin, TJ Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson (more about him soon) and John Carlson they are all left over from the last Caps Cup team in 2018.
The best of bread
Artemi Panarin was Rangers’ most exciting player this season, with 49 goals (a career-best) and 71 assists. His 120 points were also a career high, and he sat fourth in the NHL on Wednesday.
He will be watched closely in these playoffs, especially since he had a tough series against the Devils last year, managing just two assists in the seven-game loss. If he used that as fuel for his season, wow. And what could he accomplish if he uses it as kindling for this run?
Brother Act
Charlie Lindgrenthe brother of Rangers defender Ryan Lindgren, has emerged as the Caps’ goalie and adds some family intrigue to the series. Charlie Lindgren had a 2.67 goals-against average in 50 games this season and tied for the NHL lead with six shutouts. That’s two more than that Igor Shesterkin.
But Shesterkin (2.58 GAA) represents an advantage in the goaltending matchup for the Blueshirts, especially considering he has 28 games of playoff experience and Lindgren will be making his playoff debut. Still, one of Lindgren’s shutouts came against the Rangers – a 4-0 blanking on December 9 – and he was 2-1 against the Blueshirts with a .955 save percentage and 1.35 GAA.
Old House Week
Before he was hired by the Rangers, head coach Peter Laviolette was the coach of the Capitals from the 2020-2021 through 2022-2023 seasons. Under Laviolette, the team went 115-78-27 and made the playoffs twice, but coach and team parted ways after failing to make the playoffs last season.
Laviolette was hired by the Rangers to fill in Gerard Gallant and Laviolette’s credo of generating competition every day, from training camp to practices to a big regular season, has helped get the Rangers here.
History lessons
Washington acted Evgeny Kuznetsov, Anthony ManthaAnd Joel Edmundson on the deadline, but – not so quickly with the reconstruction! – still made it to the play-offs. Impressive. This will be the tenth time the Rangers and Caps have met in the playoffs, and the Rangers have won five or more series, including the last three. They last met in the second round of 2015. This season the teams shared four matches and each won twice on home ground.
The great evil
There’s a ready-made villain for this series: Wilson, the controversial Caps forward who has a history of suspensions and is the NHL’s active leader in penalty minutes. There’s an ugly history between Wilson and the Rangers.
Late in 2021, Wilson hit the former Ranger Pavel Bukhnevich in his head when Buchnevich was on the ice and then knocked Panarin to the ice when Panarin jumped into his teammate’s defense. Wilson was fined $5,000 by the league but not suspended and the Rangers released a statement condemning the lack of suspension due to a “heinous act of violence” and saying the top player safety official was unfit for his role, which ultimately led to a $250,000 fine. for the team. We’ll see if this all makes it into the series.
Prediction
Rangers in five
The Capitals had to push to get to the playoffs, so they played well. However, it is enough to let them win just one game against the best team in the league. The Rangers are clearly better. Panarin has leveled up and there are other scoring options, including tip-in savant Chris Kreider (39 goals) and the emerging Alexis Lafreniere (28 goals). Shesterkin also flies, and the Rangers advance.
