At least on paper, the Rangers were the favorites heading into the finale of the Eastern Conference finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning. They were playing on home ice, they had demolished the Lightning in Tampa in Game 6 and they had their ultimate trump card, Henrik Lundqvist, in goal.
Lundqvist has had an almost uncanny record in elimination games. Since 2012, he is 15-3 in games in which the Rangers were on the brink of ending their season, and he was undefeated in the four Game 7s he had played at Madison Square Garden.