NHL: The Presidents’ Trophy is not the trophy to chase
By Jim Lynch
2014-15 New York Rangers
53-22-7 113 points
Stanley Cup Champ – Chicago Blackhawks
The New York Rangers just could not stomach their Stanley Cup Final loss to the Los Angeles Kings, where have we heard that before? Oh right. For the second season in a row, the team that went to the Stanley Cup Final would go on to win the Presidents’ Trophy the following season
Rick Nash, Derick Stepan, and Martin St. Louis all helped power the New York Rangers to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014, and they were all back to help the Rangers win the Presidents’ Trophy in 2015.
After easily beating the Pittsburgh Penguins and coming back from a 3-1 deficit against the Washington Capitals in round two the Rangers ran into their ultimate test in round three of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Tampa Bay Lightning showed the Rangers they were a threat when they almost beat the Rangers in Game 1 of the Conference finals. It ended up being a Rangers win by a score of 2-1, after that the series opened up and the scoring increased. Each team beat their opponent by 4 goals at least once en-rout to a game 7 in New York.
The Rangers were confident they would pull things off at home in a Game 7 on May 29th, after dropping the home game 5 by a score of 2-0 the Rangers went on the road to win 7-3 in a must-win game. Then with their home crowd behind them, they lost in a Game 7 by a score of 2-0.
The Presidents’ Trophy winner went 1-3 on home ice in the conference finals. However, when you look at some of the past Presidents’ Trophy winners losing in the conference finals might be a step up.