SUNRISE, Fla. — When the Rangers took to the ice Saturday hoping to avoid elimination, it wasn’t about 2022, or, really, 2023.
But that was mostly down to a core of players who’d been there both seasons, the former of which ended here in Game 6 of the conference finals and the latter of which was over long before this stage.
The experience of avoiding defeat five times during their initial run to reach the last four has certainly not worked in Rangers’ favour.
“For sure,” Braden Schneider said Saturday morning, “I think it helps us a lot knowing we can overcome adversity and knowing what it feels like to have been through it. I think we just need to make sure we know what to do, what it feels like, do our best and make sure we’re on the pace tonight.”
Remember where the Rangers were when they faced Pittsburgh in Game 5 of the first round of the 2021-22 season? They were trailing 3-1 in the series and had Igor Shesterkin sidelined from consecutive road games.
Imagine how different the narrative surrounding this core team would have been had the Blueshirts not picked themselves up off the mat and beat the Penguins on Artemi Panarin’s game-winning goal in overtime to seal a three-game winning streak.
Now, imagine how different it would have been if the Rangers hadn’t lost the next series to Carolina, 3-2, and then beat the Hurricanes, 11-4, in the two games that followed.
There were moments in each of those series where it looked like the Rangers were finished.
That moment came after Game 5 of that contest, when the Garden emptied after the home team was a little too sloppy in the third period and couldn’t break a 1-1 tie, losing 3-2 to the Panthers.
This is different for more reasons than anyone can count.
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With the team having overcome many obstacles, having to live up to higher expectations and an uncertain future beyond this season, it’s all about the now, not the past.
But the Rangers know how to weather these storms.
“I think [it helps] “A little bit,” Ryan Lindgren said. “Obviously, every series is different, every game is different. We’ve been in tight spots before. We’re just going to take it game by game and do whatever we can to win.”
