Rangers Advance to Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Finals

Don’t count out the New York Rangers in this season’s Stanley Cup playoffs. Down three games to one to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1st round, the Rangers won three in a row to take the series and advance to play the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 2. The Rangers lost the first two in that series, and then won the next two. Carolina won Game 5, and once again the Rangers had no room for error, trailing 3-2 and facing elimination again. Once again, New York came through, beating Carolina 5-2 in Game 6 and 6-2 in Game 7.

Goalie Igor Shesterkin had 37 saves in each of the final two games. Carolina scored just 13 goals in the seven game series, including one empty netter.

The Rangers will play the two time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning for the conference championship. This is the first conference final for the Rangers since 2015, when the opponent was also Tampa Bay. New York lost that series in seven games. This season, the Rangers beat the Lightning all three times the teams met in the regular season.