Larry Brooks
nhl
Published May 18, 2024 at 4:08 pm ET
There’s hockey and there’s the Rangers. Only the Yankees and the Giants preceded them in these parts. In two years it will be a century. They are a legacy team. But that’s part of the problem, right?
The legacy that every Rangers team inherits is 1994, just as the Rangers teams that preceded that exception to the rule inherited the legacy of 1940.
Legacy can become a burden. The weight of all those seasons gone wrong can crush teams. The last time it took 54 years. There are already 30.
But what I learned, and learned again this week, is that the 2023-24 Rangers are not overwhelmed by the history of the franchise. They do not flee from the narrative. In fact, they are appreciating the opportunity to party like it was 1994. They want to be alongside the team that is etched into the fabric of the city forever.
The Rangers have already won two playoff series this year. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST
Mark Messier spoke loudly about the mission when he arrived from Edmonton in 1991. This team’s captain, Jacob Trouba, keeps it quieter. But amid his team’s emotional victory in Game 6 in Carolina on Thursday, echoes, perhaps faint but nonetheless, could be heard of No. 11 coming from No. 8’s mouth.
“Everyone knows the story, but I think you can say the same thing about the last team that won the Stanley Cup here. I think there was a little bit of a drought,” Trouba told The Post in Raleigh, North Carolina, after the Chris Kreider victory. third period of all time. “They took it on and won.
“Someone has to do it. You can wait all day for someone to do it, or you can step up and be the next team. “We want to be that team.”
The Rangers are preparing for a head-to-head clash in the conference finals with the Florida Puddy Tats, who are ferocious in contrast to the relentlessness of the Carolina Candy Canes. This best-of-seven game that opens at the Garden on Wednesday will feature high-level hockey. It will be the best upon the best.
Mark Messier holds the Stanley Cup in 1994. New York Post
And this will mark the Rangers’ second appearance in the conference finals in three years and fifth in the last 13 postseasons dating to 2012. There is only one other team in the league that has advanced to the NHL’s last four as many times: Tampa Bay. conference finalist seven times during that period.
Of course, the Lightning have a pair of Stanley Cups to show for their success. Of course, the Rangers have none for their failure. I mean, that’s what it is, right? A failure and not a success when you haven’t won again in decades?
That’s pretty much what the 15-4 record in potentially elimination games from 2012-15 reflects, right? It’s like looking in the mirror of a fun house. Success would require a number less than “4” to appear on the back of the equation.
The Rangers last won the Stanley Cup 30 years ago. New York Post
The Rangers won the first seven games of this tournament, lost Game 4 and then collectively bowed out in Game 5 at the Garden, making it seem as if the team had shortened its 30-year drought in 60 minutes. It was January and February at most. It seemed much more than that. It felt like it was everything that had happened before.
The Panthers failed to clinch at home against Boston in Game 5, and Dallas failed to clinch at home against Colorado in Game 5 (before both clinched it on the road in the next game), but there are Rorschach tests in every game. Rangers, and when people watched this Game 5 at the Garden on Tuesday, they could swear they were watching Games 4, 5 and 7 of last year’s debacle against New Jersey.
The Rangers, more than the Canes, seemed on the verge of extinction before Game 6. They had lost two potential decisive games. They were reminded of their history at every opportunity. But he never made it inside. He never infiltrated the hug, I mean, the hug.
Artemi Panarin looks to lead the Rangers back to the Stanley Cup. Jason Szenes/New York Post
“I think I’m somewhat aware of it,” coach Peter Laviolette said when asked about the history his team faces. “Since I haven’t been here, I can only tell you the story of what happened this year, what we have seen this year in this group.
“But understanding that history a little bit, I’m pretty honest with what I see in a game, and I thought we played a pretty good game in Game 4 and we were way off the mark in Game 5. At that time, maybe What you’re saying can slip in or out.
“But instead, when we had our backs to the wall in the third period, the players in that room were facing a pretty good hockey team.”
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Rangers in the NHL Playoffs
There is trust within this team. They have also earned a good measure of trust. Institutionally, the franchise has not earned the benefit of the doubt. But this team does. He did it all season long. The Rangers of 2023-24 are not prisoners of their past.
I asked Mika Zibanejad, a Ranger since 2016 and second in seniority only to Kreider, if he felt weighed down by the weight of history, and he responded as Adam Graves, Steve Larmer or Brian Leetch would have done in their day.
New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad reacts after scoring a goal during the first period of Game 1 against the Hurricanes. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
“Obviously you see it, you hear people talk about it, but I don’t think it’s a burden, it’s more of a motivation to want to experience what they did,” said No. 93, speaking directly to 1994. “See all the videos, see everything, just listening to people talk about it…
“Everyone knows where they were at the time: what they were doing, what they were eating, what they were drinking (when the Rangers won the Cup). So it’s something that everyone here wants to experience.
“We know it’s a difficult road to get there, a long road still, but it’s definitely a motivation for us.”
There’s hockey and there’s the Rangers. They count in this city. They are an Original Six. They are a legacy team. The 2023-24 Rangers are determined to create their own legacy.
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