The last time the Rangers played the Panthers, their minds were already on the playoffs.
After two losses to top teams in the Atlantic, the Rangers broke through with a 4-3 penalty shootout victory over Florida on March 23 at the Garden.
And Vincent Trocheck was already foreseeing another Eastern Conference Finals-like series on the horizon.
“Two of the best teams in the East,” Trocheck said at the time. “These games create a lot of excitement at the end of the season. [They] Get ready for the playoffs. This is the style of hockey we need to play. If we can beat these teams, it will go a long way. ”
Now that Florida has reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the second year in a row, the Rangers will have to do it again.
A year ago, the Panthers defeated the Hurricanes to reach the Stanley Cup Finals, but lost to Las Vegas.
“I think we’re a much better team in terms of personnel and experience than when we came here last year,” head coach Paul Maurice said after Friday night’s win.
Results for both teams will be known soon, with the first leg scheduled to be played at MSG on Wednesday night.
On Saturday, before the team left Boston to return to Florida before the series began, Morris called this Rangers team “the best team in the league.”
“Very, very quickly. [a] It’s a very talented team,” Maurice said. “Dynamic movement off the rush. They’ve got all the spots. They’re the best team in the league. They’ve got the goaltending, [their] The forwards and back end are big and strong, and the forwards are very skilled. ”
The Rangers are coming off a regular season in which they won the Presidents Trophy under veteran head coach Peter Laviolette, who won the Stanley Cup with Carolina in 2006.
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Maurice has been a manager in the league even longer than Laviolette and has the most regular season wins of any manager who has never won a cup.
The two teams met only once in the playoffs, in 1997, when Florida defeated the Rangers in five games in the first round.
This time around, a trip to the Cup Finals is on the line, and the Panthers are coming off a series of three road games in Boston, including Friday’s series clincher, so it looks like the Panthers won’t be daunted by Madison Square. crowd.
“New York is playoff hockey,” Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk said Friday. “It’s a dream. MSG on the Road is my favorite rink to play for all the reasons it has to do with history and New York City.”
