New York Rangers Connections: A Game Seven for Mats Zuccarello and the Stars

The Stanley Cup Playoffs haven’t disappointed so far and New York Rangers fans were kept happy after seeing their bitter local rivals swept this week.

We continue our look at New York Rangers connections in the postseason as Mats Zuccarello and the Dallas Stars lost 4-1 and were forced to a seventh game against the Blues in St.Louis Tuesday night.

Dallas Stars v St. Louis Blues (3-3)

The Dallas Stars could have moved on to the Western Conference Final for the first time since 2008 with a victory Sunday, but now face a seventh game in St. Louis on Tuesday where they will be relying on former New York Ranger Mats Zuccarello to help get them there.

Zuccarello has been on an absolute tear this postseason, contributing three goals and seven assists for 10 points in 12 playoff games.

He has been playing heavy minutes on a line with Jason Dickinson and Tyler Seguin and his raw pace and creativity have been useful weapons for the Stars.

Everyone connected with the Rangers will be praying for Zuccarello and Dallas to get the job done Tuesday, which would also see the second round pick the Blueshirts got for the Norwegian morph into a first round selection.

Columbus Blue Jackets v Boston Bruins (2-3)

There aren’t many former Rangers left in the postseason now, although there are a handful involved in this series, which has been tightly contested from the very first game.

Boston now lead the series 3-2 following their 4-3 win on Saturday, where David Pastrnak exploded out of his shocking slump to register two goals.

The Blue Jackets have been matching the Bruins punch-for-punch, however, and they have a chance to take this series to a Game Seven with a win on Monday.

In terms of former Blueshirts involved in this series, John Moore and Steven Kampfer have hardly played for Boston with just five games between them.

On the other hand, Brandon Dubinsky, who skated in 393 games for the Rangers between 2006-2012, is in a defensive role centering the fourth line and has one point in nine playoff games for the Blue Jackets.

Former Blueshirts blueliner Adam Clendening has iced up his skates for seven games with one assist and a thunderous hit on David Pastrnak.

Artemi Panarin, who is a reported free agent target of the Rangers, has been on an absolute tear for Columbus this postseason with 11 points (five goals, six assists) in nine games.

How New York fans would love to see Panarin lead the Rangers to the postseason and replicate that level of production.

San Jose Sharks v Colorado Avalanche (3-2)

Not too many Rangers connections in this series which has been another close and entertaining one to watch.

The Sharks have the edge at the moment following their 2-1 win in Game 5 on Saturday, where Tomas Hertl continued his hot hand this postseason with two goals.

Derick Brassard, who registered 174 points in 254 games for the New York Rangers, has a plus / minus rating of -2 for the Avalanche in seven postseason contests.

The lone Blueshirts representative on the Sharks is enforcer Micheal Haley who has no points and two penalty minutes in seven playoff games.

On a side note, and although there were no Rangers connections in this series, Blueshirts fans would no doubt have been pleased to see the New York Islanders swept by the Carolina Hurricanes, who look unstoppable as they now prepare for the Eastern Conference Final.

Will they win it all? Time will tell and we will have another playoff roundup next week.