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The road to the Stanley Cup definitely isn’t an easy one, and every team that made it to the NHL playoffs last season knows how true that is. The series starts with 16 teams, eight per conference to be exact, and ultimately comes to a close with one team from each side. It was a long run, and naturally every team played as fast and as hard as they could, but when it came down to it, only the New York Rangers and the Los Angeles Kings proved that they had the spark to make it to the final round!
This was a milestone for New York, not only did they make it to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2012 against the New Jersey Devils, but they also swept the championship away from the Montreal Canadiens and came out on top in just six games. Though it was exciting and every New York fan who has been waiting for a victory like this since 1994 was happy, there was still a feeling of anxiousness around the city knowing we still had one more hill to climb. Everybody from the die hard fans, to the celebrities, and even the every day New Yorkers alike were showing their support for the underdogs, hoping they would bring the cup back to New York where it belonged.
In a best of seven series that came to an end in five games, Los Angeles and New York took to the ice to battle it out for the biggest prize their career has to offer. Los Angeles was in the running to win the cup for the second time since the 2011-12 NHL season where they won against New Jersey, which is pretty ironic being that New Jersey and New York are both rivals. Los Angeles had home ice advantage since they had a better standing at the end of the 2013-14 NHL season than New York did, and that set up the momentum for the final round. New York had an incredible run and even though the 2013-2014 team was fully equipped with chemistry on the ice, they just weren’t up to par with the speed and size that Los Angeles had to offer.
The Kings finished the Stanley Cup round on home ice in an overtime game, winning the cup against the Rangers. Both teams had a great playoff run, but the Rangers just couldn’t win it against the Kings last season. It isn’t over for New York though, just like the Kings, they could come back in a season or two and claim the victory the franchise and fans have been anticipating.
