SUNRISE, Fla. — The Rangers did not approach Saturday’s potential elimination Game 6 with a sense of dread or trepidation. Not in the least.
Even if this could not be quite just another day for the Blueshirts, the team gave every impression at the morning skate that it indeed was.
The Rangers, down 3-2 to the Panthers in the conference final after having been taken to the woodshed in Games 4 and 5, embraced the opportunity to bring the series back to the Garden for what would be a climactic Game 7 on Monday night.
Words are not equivalent to actions, but the positive mindset fostered by head coach Peter Laviolette from the first training camp meeting and cultivated by the staff throughout the season was obvious in the room.
When a team faces elimination, there is a list of hypothetical “last times” that includes a possible last morning skate, last pregame meal, last pregame meeting.
Last game.
That’s not a list the Rangers were interested in at all.
“We’re all extremely excited for the opportunity,” Ryan Lindgren said when asked if the day had a different feel to it. “It’s a huge game for us and obviously we’re going to do everything we can to bring this back to MSG for Game 7.
“Everyone’s fired up and dialed in.”
If there is a pedigree of success in elimination games for this core and an extended level of success for the organization in these situations, it tracks back to 2012 and the debut of Chris Kreider.
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The 2022 team was 3-0 in first-round elimination games, rallying from 3-1 down in the series to take out the Penguins in seven. They then were 2-0 in the second round when facing elimination in overcoming a 3-2 deficit to defeat the Hurricanes. Even last year’s team avoided elimination by the Devils in Game 6 at the Garden before going down meekly in Game 7.
This represented Kreider’s 30th potential elimination game, two off the NHL record held by Jaromir Jagr. But this is also just the 10th playoff year in which No. 20 has participated after making his pro and NHL debut in Game 3 of the first round against the Senators in 2012.
Three games later, the Blueshirts were facing elimination in Game 6 in Ottawa after having lost the fulcrum Game 5 at the Garden. Kreider was 20. And he scored what ultimately would be the winning goal late in the second period of a 3-2 victory that sent the series back to New York, where the team prevailed 2-1 on goals by Marc Staal and Dan Girardi, and how’s that for a daily-double payout?
It was the first of 16 goals recorded by Kreider in elimination games that tied him for the NHL record with Mark Messier.
There’s that name again.
The Rangers went 15-4 in elimination games from 2012-15, with Kreider having missed the 2014 seven-game, first-round series against the Flyers while sidelined with a broken hand. Kreider’s won-loss record in elimination games stood at 20-9 entering this one.
Unfortunately, though, the coefficient “nine” is more noteworthy than the coefficient “20.” Nine losses in nine playoff seasons does not leave room for a championship.
That’s the past. Neither of the past two Cup winners, the 2023 Golden Knights or the 2022 Avalanche, faced an elimination game. The 2021 Lightning had a Game 7 in the conference final against the Islanders. The 2019 Blues were down 3-2 to the Stars in the second round with Game 6 on the road, then were forced to seven games in the final by the Bruins before prevailing.
In 2010, Laviolette’s Flyers overcame a 3-0 second-round deficit to defeat the Bruins in seven games before advancing to the final. In 2014, Jonathan Quick’s Kings went 7-0 in elimination games on their way to L.A.’s second Cup in three years.
All of those were in the past, too. It doesn’t really matter what Ryan O’Reilly did for St. Louis five years ago, does it now? It mattered what Mika Zibanejad could do now. It mattered what this group of Rangers could do.
Maybe there is a degree in which the Rangers’ regular-season pedigree mattered in this one, as well. Every challenge was accepted. Every challenge was confronted. The team set franchise records for wins and points. The team finished with the best record in the league.
Even if the Panthers are a different animal than any the Rangers had encountered, the belief system has not wavered.
“It’s something we’ve done all year that has put us in this spot, we’ve experienced a lot and this is no different,’’ Zibanejad said. “It’s a game that we want to win.’’
Must-win, too.
