The Stanley Cup finals are now set and the New York Rangers will visit the Los Angeles Kings for Game 1 of the championship playoffs series and it will be on Wednesday, June 4 for the first matchup before heading to Madison Square Garden following Game 2 of the series.
The Rangers come into the finals for the first time in 20 years and they advanced over the Montreal Canadiens after a hard fought series and now New York will try and win the Cup for the first time in 20 years. The Rangers started things off with a seven game series against the Philadelphia Flyers before advancing to play against the Pittsburgh Penguins and that series is what galvanized the team and gave them the momentum to make it to the finals.
The Rangers were down 3-1 in the series against the Penguins and they got booed off their home ice before coming back in Game 5 and that came after Martin St. Louis had his mother pass away and it also came after Chris Kreider snapped a very long drought on the power play. The team won three straight games to comeback against the Penguins and they took that into the next series against the Canadiens, who had to play a seven game series with the Boston Bruins. New York has not been into the Stanley Cup finals in two decades and now the team is the underdog in the series and that has fit in with how they have been described this entire postseason.
Marian Gaborik tied the game with his 12th goal of the playoffs and that came after Patrick Sharp gave the Blackhawks the go-ahead in the game and this whole series was back and forth. The Blackhawks survived Game 6 with a win and that forced a Game 7 between the two teams after the Rangers finished their series in six.
The first game of the series is an away matchup for the Rangers on June 4 and then Game 2 will be on Saturday, June 7 and then the teams travel to New York for the next two matchups. The Game 3 matchup is on Monday, June 9 from Madison Square Garden and that will be the first game at MSG for the Stanley Cup finals in 20 years. Game 4 is on Wednesday, June 11 and then Game 5 will head back out west and comes on the lucky day of Friday, June 13. The final two games jump back and forth with game 6 on June 16 at MSG and then Game 7 if necessary on Wednesday, June 18.
Check here for the NHL playoffs schedule for the Stanley Cup finals.
