The Rangers will take the Madison Square Garden ice for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs Sunday afternoon under the watchful eyes of not only a city that has been starved of a championship for 13 unlucky years, but also a fan base that’s been yearning for another Stanley Cup for three decades.
There probably isn’t a soul outside of the DC area who favors the Capitals to beat the Rangers in Round 1, and yet, the outside perception is unbecoming of a club that topped the NHL in every possible results-driven way this season.
The severe letdown that was last season’s first-round implosion against the Devils seemingly has onlookers apprehensive to believe that this could actually be the Rangers’ year.
Inside the locker room, however, the belief has arguably never been stronger.
“Why not [us]?” goalie Igor Shesterkin asked rhetorically. “It’s true. You just need to work hard every game and every second. We have a pretty good team this season, everyone played the best hockey they can. We just need to be strong together.”
If holding the Metropolitan Division crown for 175 consecutive days, earning the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and capturing the Presidents’ Trophy wasn’t even enough to wholeheartedly convince hockey fans that the Rangers have as good a chance as any to hoist Lord Stanley this summer, you better believe that the team has already put it all in the rearview mirror, as well.
The most common phrase over the last three practices has been several variations of: “We know why we’re here.”
It’s a testament to the tunnel vision the Rangers have had since Day 1 of training camp, which was established by first-year head coach Peter Laviolette.
Never losing sight of the end goal, however, did not prevent the Rangers from embracing every shift, every period and every game they went through to get to this point.
“We are confident in our group, we believe in the team we have,” Barclay Goodrow said. “I think we’ve shown it throughout the regular season and now it’s time to show it in the playoffs.”
The Rangers haven’t been this heavily favored in a playoff series in some time, and it’s warranted. It will make for their first overarching challenge of the postseason and it will be one that could impact the club down the line.
Taking out the Caps in five games or less will be key for a Rangers team that envisions itself making it to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2014.
Let the other series in the East — Islanders vs. Hurricanes and Bruins vs. Maple Leafs — go the full seven while the Rangers rest.
Let’s not forget how the Rangers ran out of gas in the conference final two seasons ago after playing two seven-game series and then going up two games to none against the Lightning.
The Rangers have been there before, and they know what it will take to get to where they want to go.
“I think our guys have confidence in the way we play the game, and then [Sunday], we have to do the work,” Laviolette said. “Can’t rely on the confidence. We’ve got to go out there and make sure we’re ready to do the work.”