The 11 Best New York Rangers Stats From Round 2

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With an overtime victory on Wednesday, the New York Rangers are headed to the Eastern Conference Championship for the second year in a row. Here are the 11 best stats from their second round match-up against the Washington Capitals.

1. Going 7

The Rangers and Capitals faced each other in a Game 7 for fourth time in history and it was the third consecutive time that the teams had their series go the full seven games. The two have faced off regularly in recent seasons, for a total of 26 playoff matches since the 2010-11 season, the most of any two teams in that span. In this series they passed up the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks to grab that title.

For the Rangers, this is only the third time in franchise history that they have managed to force a Game 7 after being down 3-1 in the series. The first time was in 1939 against the Boston Bruins, the second time was last year against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

With the win again this year, they’re the first team to ever come back from a 3-1 deficit in back-to-back years. They have also tied a NHL record by winning six straight Game 7 tilts. The Detroit Red Wings set that mark from 1949-64 and the Boston Bruins did it as well in series spanning from 1983-94.

New York Rangers
(Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports)

Need more Game 7 madness? The Rangers are 7-0 in Game 7s at home and are the only team in league history to play at least four Game 7 matches at home and win them all. The last team to beat the Rangers in a Game 7? The Washington Capitals.

More still? Eight players on the Rangers roster had never lost in a Game 7 enter Wednesday’s game. Carl Hagelin, Ryan McDonagh, and Derek Stepan were all 5-0; Chris Kreider was 4-0; Derick Brassard, Rick Nash, and Mats Zuccarello were 3-0; and Kevin Klein was 2-0.

2. Un-Eliminatable

It’s not just the Game 7 scenario, The Rangers are tough to beat in Madison Square Garden when they’re facing elimination. They currently hold a NHL record of winning 10 straight games at home when facing elimination.

3. It’s Good to Be the King

With a 42-save win in Game 6, Henrik Lundqvist became the first Rangers goaltender in the expansion era to stop at least 42 pucks and win a game when facing elimination.

Overall, Lundqvist performs well in eliminations games. Over the last 17 elimination games he’s been a part of, he’s 14-3 with a 1.42 GAA, .955 SV%, and 2 shutouts.

4. …Really Good

Following Wednesday’s Game 7 win, Lundqvist has a career 0.97 GAA (minimum of three games played) in Game 7 scenarios. That’s the lowest in NHL history.

In addition it was Lundqvist’s sixth straight Game 7, tying him with Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy for the most in NHL history.

In his four second round wins, Lundqvist jumped up to 51 career playoff wins, leap-frogging Ron Hextall and Glenn Hall to have the 18th most postseason wins all-time. He’s just two wins from tying Marc-Andre Fleury, who has the most postseason wins of any active goaltender.

5. Old Hands in The Show

The Rangers have now played 69 playoff games since the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs, passing the Los Angeles Kings for the most playoff games played in that span. The Kings have played 64.

Derek Stepan [photo: Amy Irvin]
Derek Stepan [photo: Amy Irvin]

 

6. Stepan-wolf

Derek Stepan‘s Game 7 OT series-clinching goal was his first career OT goal in the playoffs. It was his third career game-winner and all three of those game-winners have come against the Capitals.

7. Game 6 Madness

In Game 6 there was a goal scored inside the first minute of all three periods. That’s amazing, but what’s more amazing is that this isn’t the first time it’s happened in the postseason.

8. Boys Don’t Kreider

9. The One-Goal Game

All 12 of the Rangers playoff games this season have been determined by a single goal. That’s the longest stretch of such games in playoff history. Dating back to last year, they’ve actually played 14 straight playoff games determined by a one-goal margin.

10. Low-Scoring Games

The games aren’t just close, but they’ve been pretty low scoring. The Rangers allowed two or fewer goals in eight straight games of a single postseason for the first time in franchise history in a stretch that lasted from Game 3 of the first round through Game 5 of the second round.

11. How’s Your Bracket?

 

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Thanks to the NHL and team PR Twitter accounts, as well as Elias Sports Bureau for some of the statistics.