It was a regular season that started with uncertainty and a postseason that started with the same. But this is proving to be a new version of an old story, the Rangers maybe not looking like the most formidable opponent in the playoffs, but somehow finding ways to win — and win big. Once again, […]
Read MoreYou know, it used to be kind of routine around here for the Rangers to win playoff rounds and for Henrik Lundqvist to win his goal-tending matchup, no matter the guy at the other end of the ice. Of course it was. But then came last spring and the opening-round, five-game surrender to the Penguins […]
Read MoreAlain Vigneault allowed the smallest smile to cross his face, as this was a personal victory, as well as a team triumph. Vigneault’s Rangers beat the Canadiens, 3-1, in Game 6 on Saturday night at the Garden to win their first-round series against his friend and counterpart, Claude Julien. Before the series, Vigneault said Julien […]
Read MoreThe Rangers and Canadiens entered their first-round playoff series known as skill teams, which is NHL code for soft. The first five games changed that — and the sixth confirmed it. A series that saw its share of stitches, bruises and hits — legal and illegal on both sides — emerged as the most physical […]
Read MoreIt wasn’t just one player, one voice. It came from all corners of the Rangers locker room in the Garden. The Rangers had done it again — played a lousy first period — and this time, they were in grave danger of having to play a Game 7 on the opponent’s home ice. Like a […]
Read MoreIt is almost two years since the day Mats Zuccarello’s hockey career almost ended. Two years since he took a puck to the head that left him unable to speak for four days. It was Game 5 against the Penguins, April 24, 2015, when Zuccarello took a Ryan McDonagh slap shot in the helmet with 3:58 left […]
Read MoreRegarding the Rangers, whose patience, discipline and structure will be challenged by the Senators in what shapes up as a far less physical series than the six-game tong war against Montreal. Just make sure to keep your head up around Alexandre Burrows and Dion Phaneuf: 1. Round One represented the playoff series of Ryan McDonagh’s […]
Read MoreThe question of whether these Rangers could handle the physicality of the postseason has been answered in the affirmative, and it earned them some rest. After the Blueshirts dispensed of the Canadiens in Game 6 on Saturday night at the Garden to wrap up their first-round playoff series and advance, they were given Sunday off […]
Read MoreTo harken back to the first round of the 2012 playoffs is to see how much can change in a relatively short period of time, with the most recent postseason series between the Rangers and Senators taking place between two completely different teams from their current counterparts. That was the Brian Boyle series, if you […]
Read MoreIt was just one goal after 14 failed attempts. But still, the Rangers were hoping to take away some confidence from that lone tally on the man-advantage in the whole of their six-game, first-round series against the Canadiens. It helps the one goal was a big one, scored by Mats Zuccarello in the second period […]
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