There was so much for the New York Rangers to take away from watching the Florida Panthers eliminate the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final on Wednesday to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the third straight season.
But it wasn’t just the tenacity, commitment, ferocity, relentlessness, passion, speed, skill, patience, confidence, calm and teamwork of the Panthers that stood out. Though you’d hope all of those attributes were soaked in by the Rangers players, coaches and management watching from different parts of the globe.
It was also in the words spoken postgame, ones from each side that should be taken to heart.
Let’s start with the losers. The Hurricanes have made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of Rod Brind’Amour’s seven seasons as coach, won at least one round each year and reached the conference final three times. But they never once made it to the Stanley Cup Final, mush less won the Cup.
In some corners, they’re being shredded for an inability to win the biggest games, with this year’s five-game loss to the defending champions the latest example.
So, Brind’Amour was asked this excellent question postgame Thursday: “How do you measure the disappointment of falling short with the achievement of getting to this stage?”
“It’s the craziest thing that we get this far and all we’re hearing is negativity from everybody,” Brind’Amour replied. “I’ve got nothing but pride with this group. Yeah, we didn’t kind of love how it went, this series, but again that’s the standard right there. You’re not giving Florida enough credit.”
There’s a lot to unpack here. But, in how it relates to the Rangers, there should be an element of pride in pushing as far as you can and counting your successes along the way. And an understanding that sometimes you run into a better team. It happened to the Rangers in the 2024 East Final against the Panthers, just as it did Wednesday for the Hurricanes against that same opponent.
There’s no shame in falling short. Hockey executives and coaches will tell you all the time that there’s only one team happy at the end of the season and 31 others that are not.
Despite not winning the Stanley Cup since 1994, perhaps the Rangers deserve more credit for their runs to the conference final in 2022 and 2024, especially in 2022 when they showed so much resolve to get as far as they did.
It’s not nothing that the Rangers reached the conference final in two of three seasons, nor that they won the Presidents’ Trophy as regular-season champions in 2023-24.
Much of that seemed overlooked after the Rangers crashed and burned, losing in six games to the Panthers last spring. The good will they’d built up was gone. And, mind you, that was before they completely fell apart and missed the playoffs this past season.
Like the Rangers of the previous decade, who went to the Eastern Conference Final three times in a four-year span that included an appearance in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final, the current Blueshirts core is known more for its failures at the end than their consistent successes over an extended stretch.
Just like Brind’Amour’s Hurricanes.
It’s not nothing what they accomplished. But the flip side is also true. It’s not enough.
Rangers need to learn from Panthers and their ‘bigger goal in mind’ approach
That’s why it’s also important to hear what the Panthers had to say after knocking out the Hurricanes on Wednesday.
“It’s all business, and we’ve got a bigger goal in mind,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said about their seemingly subdued reaction to advancing to the Cup Final after a thrilling comeback win in Game 5.
And it’s not about this group being bored with winning. It’s the exact opposite. They’re not cutting loose until they’ve completed the job and won the Stanley Cup, which they did last spring.
“It’s a bit of an odd feeling,” veteran Brad Marchand explained. “We’re extremely excited to be going to the Finals but the job’s not done and … we still have a huge job to do.
No patting themselves on the back. All business.
“We’re excited that we got through the round, but that’s where it stops,” Marchand added. “Obviously the toughest team that we’re going to face is coming up next. And if you don’t do the job there, you didn’t win anything.”
So, there’s a fine line to be walked here. Pride in what you’ve accomplished, whether that’s the Panthers heading to another Cup Final, or the Hurricanes grinding to the conference final, or the Rangers with successes in recent years (2024-25 notwithstanding). But keeping the focus on the ultimate goal and all that it takes to win a Stanley Cup championship.
So, that’s the line the Rangers walk right now. It’s not nothing what they’ve accomplished in recent years. But it’s not enough.
