The New York Rangers have had plenty of rough games in the last season and a half. Most games have resulted in losses, some harder to swallow than others. However, nothing compares to the raw emotions of painful Rangers playoff losses. Having to wait two or three days for the chance to get back at it, or being sent home in some cases, feels terrible. While I am also looking at the Rangers best playoff wins since 2011, it felt appropriate with the last two seasons to look at the most painful Rangers playoff losses first.
10. 2012 Eastern Conference Finals Game Six
The Adam Henrique game. You may think this was a lot worse than I do, but a lot of the logic for me is determining how realistic it was for the Rangers to make a legitimate run. The Rangers would have loved to have gotten a Game Seven and may have even won that game, but I have zero belief that the Rangers would have beaten the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Final.
It’s great to get to the Stanley Cup Final, but the Rangers were running on fumes at this point of the postseason. In hindsight, it doesn’t hurt too much.
9. 2023 First Round Game Seven
I’m sure many of you think I’m crazy for this. But losing a Game 7 (which the Rangers were supposed to be kings of) to the arch-rival Devils in embarrassing fashion was incredibly hard to swallow. Nobody played well in Game 7, the Rangers looked unprepared to play, and a genuinely good Rangers roster was sent packing without even winning a round.
Considering the East was wide open in 2023 as well, it felt like a missed opportunity and a huge blemish on the core of the team.
8. 2014 Stanley Cup Final Game Three
Going by my own logic, this should be further towards the top of the list. Sure, the Rangers lost games one and two in brutal fashion, but they were returning to Madison Square Garden for the first home Stanley Cup game since they won the Cup. Well they got shut out and poof, the Rangers went down 3-0 in the Stanley Cup Final, essentially getting eliminated in the process. The only reason this isn’t closer to the top is that the game never felt like it was going the Rangers way.
7. 2024 Eastern Conference Finals Game Four
The Rangers were an overtime goal away from being up 3-1 against the eventual Stanley Cup champions. This game felt like the Rangers best chance and it to this day feels like the team knew that. Once Sam Reinhart scored a power-play goal after Blake Wheeler’s overtime penalty, the series felt like it was going the Panthers way. That it did.
6. 2014 Stanley Cup Finals Game 5
Stunner, I know. Another tough loss in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final sent the Rangers packing. Even worse, the Rangers lost in a way that’s been captured in commercials, highlights, and more. But yet again, context is important. The Rangers were not coming back from a 3-0 series deficit in the Stanley Cup Finals. The series was already lost by more significantly painful losses (more on that in the next article), so the pain was more immediate than lingering.