SUNRISE, Fla. — It was not about 2022 when the Rangers took the ice Saturday hoping to fend off elimination, and for that matter, it was not about 2023, either.
But it was about this core of players, most of whom had experienced both of those seasons, the former of which ended right here in Game 6 of the conference final and the latter that ended long before this stage.
The experience of staving off elimination on five different occasions in that initial joyride to the final four, then, certainly did not hurt for the Rangers to have in their back pockets.
“For sure,” Braden Schneider said Saturday morning. “Knowing we can come out on the other side and going through that, knowing what it feels like, I think it helps a ton. I think we gotta make sure we know what to do, we know how it feels, we gotta make sure we’re bringing out best and we’re pushing the pace tonight.”
Remember, for a moment, where the Rangers were in Game 5 of the first round that 2021-22 season against Pittsburgh, facing a 3-1 series deficit over which Igor Shesterkin had been pulled from consecutive games on the road.
Imagine how different the narrative surrounding this core would be had the Blueshirts not gathered themselves up off the mat and won three games in a row to defeat the Penguins on Artemi Panarin’s overtime winner.
For that matter, imagine how different it would be if not for the next series, in which the Rangers went down 3-2 to Carolina before outscoring the Hurricanes 11-4 over the next two games.
There were moments in each of those series where the Rangers appeared done.
That moment came after Game 5 of this one, when the Garden cleared out after a 3-2 loss to the Panthers in which the home team came out a little too flat in the third period and could not break a 1-1 tie in its favor.
This is different, for more reasons than anyone cares to count.
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The group has been through more, has higher expectations to deal with and elements of its future are uncertain after this season. It’s about now, not what came before.
The Rangers, however, know how to weather these storms.
“I think [it helps] a little bit,” Ryan Lindgren said. “Obviously, each series, each game is different. We’ve had our backs against the wall before. Take it one game at a time and do whatever you can to get that win.”