NY Rangers best of the decade: Best playoff game

Best of the decade posts:
Ranking the seasons part 1
Ranking the seasons part 2
Best regular season game

As the 2010’s come to a close, there have been a lot of good memories for the Rangers. The decade was one of the best in Rangers history, with seven playoff appearances, nine playoff series wins, two Eastern Conference Finals appearances and one Stanley Cup Finals appearance. As we round out the close of the decade, I polled the BSB writers for their top moments. Here is what we thought were the best playoff games:

Tyler:  Derek Stepan sending us to the ECF in 2015. Hank gave them a chance all night, but I was really worried in that game; especially when Ovechkin scored first. Stepan winning it just relieved all of those worries cause it’d be a new series…if only I knew what awaited me that round as a fan…

Rob L: So this one, for me, is more about the story than the result. Game 2 at Ottawa, April 29 2017 (6-5 2OT loss). On that day, it was an early start (like an 11 AM or 12 PM CST in Chicago) so I gathered with some friends before I was to meet my now fiancé and her family for the Cubs game (like a 4 PM start I believe). Of course I tell her the game will take about 3 hours, which then turns into 4.5. So I’m delaying like crazy to the point where I skip the pregame meal/meet-up only to have NYR lose in 2OT. Her family now knows to not plan much during the playoffs (which has been useless the last two years now).

Also, one of the greatest playoff shifts I’ve witnessed occurred that day, ending in a Brady Skjei goal. Skjei-Smith, playoffs 2017, for life.

Pat: Nothing compares to that Brad Richards tying powerplay goal with 6.6 seconds left and then the Marc Staal powerplay goal to win it. Thanks, Joel Ward!

Becky:  The 2014-15 Second Round Game 7 against the Caps, won by Derek Stepan in OT. They killed us with 1-1 games all (pause) the (pause) time, but that game was genuinely amazing. That was also still when the Rangers playoffs gave us hope, and the vibe around MSG was incredible. Too bad the next series killed my soul.

Rob C: Game 6 of the 2014 ECF vs. Montreal. It was probably as complete and perfect a game as the Rangers played during this era.

Dave: Rangers/Penguins, 2014 second round, Game 7. This was the first comeback by the Rangers when down 3-1, the OG if you will. Henrik Lundqvist refused to let the Rangers lose this series. He allowed one goal in each of the final three games, stopping 31 of 32, 36 of 37, and 35 of 36. That’s of 102 of 105, which is a .971 (!!!!!!!) save percentage. He’s the only reason why the Rangers won this series and made it to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The goal by Richards in the second to give the Rangers the lead. The broken stick in the crease that deflected a shot that Hank still stopped, with no stick! Just everything about that game gave me hope that these Rangers could win. Of course that didn’t turn out so well, but what a run that comeback started.