When the Rangers clinched the first wild-card playoff berth in the East, they found themselves poised on what appeared to be an easier path to a possible Eastern Conference final by initially escaping the minefield of the Metropolitan Division and crossing over into the Atlantic.
After all, going toe-to-toe in the first round with Sidney Crosby and the Penguins or John Tortorella’s Blue Jackets, who finished with 111 and 108 points, among the best in the NHL, and following that with a possible series against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Washington Capitals, was not exactly the stuff of Stanley Cup dreams.