It was May 25, 1994, and the New York Rangers were trailing their rivals, the New Jersey Devils 2-0 midway through the second period of game six of the Eastern Conference Finals. The only reason it was 2-0 and not 5-0 was because of Mike Richter. He practically stood on his head doing his best to keep his team within striking distance. A loss would've ended the Blueshirts season, and 54 years would've become 55 and counting. Those "Nineteen Forty" chants would've gone on, perhaps forever.
That's when Mark Messier took over. He fed a drop pass to Alex Kovalev in the right face-off circle, and the winger beat Martin Brodeur with a slap shot to cut the Devils lead in half. And then the Captain had the third period of a lifetime, scoring a natural hat trick to propel his team to victory. Two days later, Stephane Matteau completed the series comeback with a double overtime goal. On June 14, the Rangers would finally exorcize their demons and capture the Stanley Cup.
Last night, the Rangers found themselves trailing by two goals entering the third period of a game six. Though the circumstances were different - this Rangers team was ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes instead of behind - the ramifications were almost as dire. New York had jumped out to a 3-0 series lead and the Hurricanes were now twenty minutes away from forcing a game seven at Madison Square Garden. There was a very real chance that the Rangers would become only the fifth team in NHL history to lose a series after leading 3-0.
Igor Shesterkin, like Richter 30 years earlier, had done everything possible to give his team a chance at avoiding what may well have been the worst collapse in franchise history. He made save after save and was even aided by several posts that the Canes hit. But to overcome the deficit, the Rangers needed someone else to step up and take the reigns.
Enter Chris Kreider. The twelve-year veteran scored three consecutive goals to stun the crowd in Raleigh. An empty netter by Barclay Goodrow was the icing on the cake. The Rangers won the game 5-3 and took the series 4-2. For the second time in three years, New York has advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals where they await the winner of the Florida / Boston series.
There's no easy way to put this. The Rangers were very fortunate. They had played five consecutive periods of poor hockey in which they were outscored 7-2. Their power play had gone ice cold. Had Freddie Andersen not gifted them with two questionable goals - the first to Artemi Panarin in game one; the second to Kreider in game six, the final outcome might have gone the other way. For those who still insist that goaltending is overrated, hopefully this series will serve as a wakeup call. From Ken Dryden to Andrei Vasilevskiy, elite goalies have always played an integral role in their teams Stanley Cup championships. Maybe instead of trading for Jake Guentzel, Don Waddell should've traded for someone like Jordan Binnington or Jacob Markstrom. Either would've done a much better job in net than Andersen. The fact is, had the Hurricanes gotten better goaltending in last year's playoffs against the Panthers, there's no way in hell they would've been swept.
But that's Carolina's problem, isn't it? As for the Rangers, they will have their work cut out for them against Florida, assuming Florida wraps up its series tonight in Boston. Unlike the Canes, the team formerly known as the Puddy Tats doesn't take a bunch of shots from the perimeter in the hopes of causing "chaos" in front of the net. They drive to the net and make life a living hell for opposing goaltenders. The only reason the Bruins forced a game six is because Jeremy Swayman did his best Patrick Roy impersonation. I can assure you if Sam Reinhart has the puck on his stick 20 feet out from Shesterkin, he's not going to hit the post. The Panthers have no discernible weaknesses. If the Rangers struggle at all in this series, they will lose. Period.
But for now they can relax and celebrate. They have advanced to the NHL's version of the Final Four. The last time a Presidents' Trophy winner made it this far was 2015. That team, oddly enough, was the Rangers.
And our hero of the day, Chris Kreider, was a member of that team.
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