Following up on my 10 worst playoff games in recent New York Rangers history. That was not fun to write, so I decided to give myself the treat of writing about the 10 best Rangers playoff wins since 2010. It may be a while until we see some more Rangers playoff wins, so like true millennials we will enjoy the nostalgia of the previous fun Rangers playoff wins that gave us hope for something even better.
10. 2024 Eastern Conference Finals Game 3
A game in which Alexis Lafreniere scored probably the best goal of his career ended with an overtime goal by Alex Wennberg, In five years, we may already have forgotten about Wennberg’s goal, so this got bumped to the 10 spot. Still, this win put the Rangers two wins away from playing in the Stanley Cup Final, and after a game three OT win (that didn’t make this list), winning another OT game made the Rangers start to feel inevitable.
Sadly, they weren’t.
9. 2014 Second Round Game 7
Some argue this was the best game of Henrik Lundqvist’s career. The Rangers defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 to win the series after previously falling behind 3-1 in the series. The game was intense the whole way through, with the Penguins consistently pushing for the game-tying goal. The final buzzer felt more like a relief than a victory, but either way, the Rangers were onto the Eastern Conference Finals thanks to an incredible performance by Lundqvist.
8. 2014 Second Round Game 6
Honestly, I couldn’t decide where to place this one. The pure emotions of Martin St. Louis scoring on Mother’s Day after his Mother passed away won out for me. This may not have been more exciting than Game 7, but the Rangers winning on home ice for St. Louis and bringing a series that felt over to a Game 7 was awesome.
7. 2015 Second Round Game 5
You will likely notice a pattern in this series that the Rangers have always seemed to love falling behind 3-1 in series. It happened in 2015, as the Washington Capitals had the Rangers on the ropes. If not for Chris Kreider’s game-tying goal with less than two minutes remaining, the Rangers would have gone home in 5.
Instead, Kreider tied the game late, and perennially underappreciated Captain of the Rangers Ryan McDonagh notched the game-winner, sending the Rangers to Game Six in Washington.
6. 2012 Second Round Game 5
The 6.6 game probably should have a better ranking on this list. I admit it. I had a lot of trouble deciding between this game and the game in the five spot. For me, what won out was that the game in the five spot clinched a series win, while this game only put the Rangers ahead in the series.
Brad Richards tied the game with 6.6 seconds to go, then Marc Staal (Marc Staal?) on the power-play (on the powerplay??) won the game in overtime. The Rangers would go on to win the series in seven games, then lose to the New Jersey Devils in the next round.