While there are no statistics to back it up, the New York Rangers just feel like a team of destiny. Stan Fischler On Rangers Cup Chances In order to win a Stanley Cup, you need a lot of things to go your way. It requires having a complete team with a mixture of superstars and depth, a goaltender who catches fire and a little bit of luck. The Rangers seem to have it all through the first three rounds of the playoffs thus far, which is why this team has a unique feeling to them. New York is filled with star talent and big time names including Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad. Meanwhile Alexis Lafrenière and Vincent Trocheck have really taken steps in helping boost this Rangers team and are emerging into stars of their own. It’s not just these players though. The Rangers are getting contributions on all fronts, specifically from Barclay Goodrow, a forward who serves a bottom-six role, but still has six goals, two assists and eight points through 13 playoff games. In net, there has not been a better goalie than Igor Shesterkin. When thinking about the great playoff goaltenders of this generation, Shesterkin is starting to put himself at the top of that list amongst current goalies. The 28-year-old seems to be at his best in critical situations when the Rangers need him most. He’s already stolen multiple games and he’s arguably the favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy at this current point in time. When teams make deep playoff runs, they have a lot of moments that are special. Between the Chris Kreider hat trick to send New York to the Eastern Conference Final, the four different overtime goals or the heroics of Shesterkin, the Rangers have had no shortage of legendary moments over the past couple of weeks. It feels as if some of these plays were written from a Disney fairy tale movie, but these are indeed real events that are transpiring before our eyes. They continue to win in a miraculous fashion that is destiny-like. New York will need a lot more things to go their way before being awarded the Stanley Cup, but they are certainly on track to accomplish something truly special.
