The Rangers are the first team to advance to the conference final after winning the Presidents’ Trophy in nine years.
A 4-0 win over the Senators in April officially earned the Rangers first place in the Metropolitan Division, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and the Presidents’ Trophy to cap off a brilliant regular season.
Thursday, following a 5-3 comeback win over the Hurricanes, thanks to a third-period hat trick by Chris Kreider, the Rangers won the series, 4-2, to advance to the Eastern Conference Final.
The last team to advance to the Conference Final after winning the Presidents’ Trophy?
The 2014-15 Rangers.
The Blueshirts that year earned the franchise’s third Presidents’ Trophy and eighth division title by finishing with the best record in the NHL at 53-22-7.
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The Rangers hope for a better outcome this time after they lost in a seven-game conference final to the Lightning that year.
The current Rangers drew parallels to another previous team, as the 1994 squad also won the Presidents’ Trophy and went on to win the Stanley Cup.
In the series leading up to the final, Mark Messier scored a hat trick in the third period of Game 6, much like Chris Kreider’s hat trick on Thursday.
