So now the Rangers have identified their latest enemies, and their name is the Kings.
By winning Game 7 of the Western Conference final on Sunday night in Chicago, the Kings made their way to the Stanley Cup final, where the Blueshirts await after dispatching the Canadiens in the Eastern Conference final on Thursday.
Game 1 will be played Wednesday night at Staples Center.
And the despite the fact the Kings are big and physical and skilled, the Rangers are approaching their most important two weeks in the past two decades with the overwhelming sentiment that the only thing that mattered was their limitless belief in themselves.
“I don’t think throughout this whole playoffs that a lot of people were picking us to do anything,” alternate captain Marc Staal said on Sunday afternoon, his team finally getting back to practice after two days of rest and recuperation. “We kept with it, we kept believing in our room that we could keep winning, and that’s what we’ve done. And that’s not going to change in our room.”
When Staal was asked if his team was being considered the underdog to either of the two teams out West — the two having split the last two Stanley Cups, the Blackhawks last season, the Kings the season before — he didn’t feel the need to play coy.
“We don’t feel like that in here, but sure, yea, probably,” he said. “If that’s the way it is, then that’s the way it is. I think you go into a series — and it doesn’t matter who it’s against — when it’s the Stanley Cup final, we have an opportunity to win the Cup.”
Brad Richards, who has assumed the role as de facto captain after the trade of Ryan Callahan, is one of only two players dressing for Game 1 who has won a Stanley Cup. He and Martin St. Louis were teammates on the 2004 Lightning team that won it under coach John Tortorella, and Richards scoffed at the idea they were the underdog.
“Do I feel that or do you feel that way?” he asked.
“I think when you get to the Stanley Cup final, you have a 50-50 chance to win it,” Richards said. “That’s just the way I’ve seen it my whole career. Since you get into the NHL, you know how hard it is to win. And, really, the underdog thing and the favorite thing, it really doesn’t mean anything in the locker room. You just have to go out and play.”
The Rangers are fully cognizant they are going to have play better in the final than they had all season if they intend to take home their first Cup since 1994.
“We’re going to bring our level up and they’re going to bring their level up,” Staal said, “so it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Although both the Blackhawks and Kings posed their own challenges, the Kings are a more physical team, with size and grit to go along with their commendable skill. That includes former Ranger Marian Gaborik, who went from the Blue Jackets to the Kings at the trade deadline and is scoring like a madman this postseason. The team as whole has also shown some serious mettle in this postseason, coming back from a 3-0 series deficit to beat the Sharks in the first round, followed by their gusty Game 7 victory on Sunday night.
“Really, people have been sitting back taking notes on those two franchises for the last three or four years,” Richards said of the Kings and Blackhawks. “So it’s a great challenge, and we can learn a lot from both their runs this year. … Obviously, that’s a testament to their groups, their locker rooms and their coaches.”
Now the Rangers have the task of trying to solve the mighty Kings, standing between them and the ultimate prize.
“Obviously everyone here is going to enjoy the opportunity,” Staal said, “and we’re going to try and do the best we can to take advantage of it.”