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New York Rangers: How the Rangers will win it all

By Tiona Donadio

Jun 1, 2022; New York, New York, USA; A general view of Madison Square Garden before game one of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 1, 2022; New York, New York, USA; A general view of Madison Square Garden before game one of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jun 1, 2022; New York, New York, USA; A general view of Madison Square Garden before game one of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports /

The New York Rangers are now 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning. They are two wins away from a trip to the Stanley Cup Final, a place they haven’t been to since 2014 when they lost to the Los Angeles Kings. The Rangers have a chance to make a Stanley Cup appearance once again. Not only can they make it there, but they can win it all. Here is how.

Brayden Point

First of all, the Rangers still have to get passed the Lightning. The two-time defending Stanley Cup Champions are not going to give up easily. They may be down 2-0 in the series, but this is a great team. Great teams don’t just quit. They still have a lot of work to do though.

It doesn’t help that the Lightning lost one of their best players, Brayden Point, in  Game 7 in the first round against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He suffered a lower body injury and since then, he has not played.

Point is a key player that the Lightning are disappointed to lose. In the seven playoff games he played in, Point has four points, two goals and two assists. For the season, Point had 58 points in 66 games.

In the past two seasons, Point led the NHL in playoff goals, scoring 14 each year. He was second in points (56) to Nikita Kucherov (66). Point is sorely missed by the Lightning and their fans.

Round One

The irony of the playoffs this year is that the Rangers weren’t even expected to make the playoffs. They weren’t even looked at as a competitor. Look at where they are at now and what led to this point.

The Rangers ended up finishing in second place behind the Carolina Hurricanes. They had 110 points in the regular season to give them home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

After being down 3-1 in the series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who expected the Rangers to actually pull it off and advance? Very few. Yes there were fans that, like any sports fan, has a belief that their team can do it. Usually it is a false hope. Fans don’t want to bash their own team and say the team won’t or can’t win.

The Rangers not only proved all the haters wrong, but they did it in record-breaking fashion. The Rangers came back after being down in the series. They were also down several times on the scoreboard. They fought their way back, as they had done all season long. They were second, only to the Florida Panthers (29), with come-from-behind wins with 27.

If someone would have told me at the start of the playoffs that the Rangers were going to be down 3-1 and then win three games straight, I wouldn’t have told that person he/she was nuts. I won’t lie though. I did have some doubts after the Penguins got their third win, but I never gave up on them. I have even said it wasn’t over and I had told people, family and friends, not to count the Rangers out. I have said that if they won Game Six in Pittsburgh, it was over and the Rangers will be advancing. I was that confident they could do it and they did.

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