It has been 31 years since last winning the Stanley Cup, and one wonders how many more years—perhaps decades—will pass before it happens again.
Rangers fans tried to compare this season to 1994 by citing destiny and great moments as their reason for believing this was the year their team would win the Stanley Cup. Pfft! So much for that. While it is a cute narrative, one has nothing to do with the other.
The only thing Rangers fans can say about 1994 is that it was the last time they won the Stanley Cup. It is now 31 years and counting with Saturday’s loss to a better Florida Panthers team in Game Six of the Eastern Finals.
Comparing this team to the 1994 team is an insult to the Ranger’s last Stanley Cup championship team. This Rangers team had no guts as they went belly-up against the Panthers in their elimination game. Back then, the Rangers would have gone down fighting as they did against the Devils in the 1994 Conference Final. The Rangers won the final two games to take the series after trailing three games to two.
It shouldn’t be surprising that the 2024 Rangers went down meekly in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final. They had nothing left in the tank after the Panthers wore them down in this series, especially late in games. So the Panthers knew they could finish them off when they took a 3-2 series lead on Thursday night with a 3-2 victory at Madison Square Garden. On Saturday, the Rangers couldn’t create many scoring chances, and Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made saves when they did.
It was like the Rangers were a dead team walking. The Panthers knew that and attacked from the outset. It was just a matter of time before they took the lead, and they did it in the first period when Sam Bennett scored with 1:10 to go. From there, the Rangers looked at the clock until the game ended.
Artemi Panarin scored a meaningless goal to cut it to 2-1, but he came up lame for most of the series by failing to secure a single goal until the outcome had all but been decided. He joins a long list of Rangers mercenaries who came up short when it mattered. He’s no better than Brad Richards and Rick Nash when it comes to elevating the Rangers in the playoffs. After such poor performance over the last three seasons — especially when it comes to making the playoffs — the best Panarin can do now is go away.
But, to be fair, it wasn’t just him. Everybody on the Rangers came up short. In the Eastern Finals, the Broadway Blueshirts went 1-for-15 in the power play and 2-for-25 in the last ten playoff games. The overrated star trio of Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, and Panarin mustered only two goals, six assists, and eight points, and those are big reasons why the Rangers will watch the Stanley Cup Final for the umpteenth time.
How often have we seen this in the Eastern Conference Final, especially against the Tampa Bay Lightning? Remember two years ago, after the Rangers took a 2-0 series lead against the Bolts when they scored only five goals the rest of the series? Who could forget they did not score against them at home in Game 7 of the 2015 conference final?
There’s a pattern here, and viewing the franchise as a paper tiger seems right. It’s a team that looks great during the regular season but then wilts under pressure come playoff time. It made no difference that this team beat the overmatched Washington Capitals and overrated Carolina Hurricanes. When they faced the Panthers, a complete team boasting skill, speed, and strength, they met their match.
All the good moments—taking home the President’s Trophy … Chris Kreider assuming the role of Messier by scoring a hat trick in the third period, leading the Rangers to a comeback Game 6 playoff victory against the Hurricanes … and winning that series–mean little now. You can’t call ‘23-24 a successful season because there isn’t the Stanley Cup to hoist.
1994 might as well be 1940. That’s another year of saying, “Wait until next year!” ’23-24 was another season of unfulfilled expectations.
