Rangers’ most memorable playoff games from 2000-25, including Chris Kreider’s 3rd-period hat trick
The New York Rangers are 31 years removed from their last Stanley Cup championship in 1994. But it wasn’t that they didn’t have opportunities to add their fifth Cup title during the first quarter of the 21st century.
The Blueshirts made the playoffs 15 times from 2005-06 through 2024-25 after extending a seven-year non-playoff streak by coming up short from 2000-01 through 2003-04 (there was no hockey in 2004-05 because of the lockout). They got to the NHL final four in 2012, 2015, 2022 and 2024, and reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2014, when they lost to the Los Angeles Kings in five games in their first trip to the championship round in 20 years.
Even without a Cup, the period from 2000-25 provided plenty of postseason thrills, including a series-clinching third-period hat trick, the longest overtime win in eight decades, the win that got the Rangers to the 2014 Final, and a memorable comeback and Game 7 win.
Here’s a look at five unforgettable playoff games from the first 25 years of this century.
May 16, 2024: Chris Kreider’s third-period heroics send Rangers to East Final
No Rangers player scored more goals this century (326) than Chris Kreider, whose time in New York came to an end on June 12 when he was traded to the Anaheim Ducks, aka “Rangers West.” Kreider’s most memorable game with the Rangers came 13 months earlier, in Game 6 of the 2024 Eastern Conference Second Round against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The 2023-24 Rangers set team records for wins (55) and points (114) on the way to the Presidents’ Trophy, swept the Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs and won the first three games in the second round against the ’Canes.
But Carolina won the next two games to get the series back to Raleigh with a chance to pull even, and their momentum continued into Game 6. Carolina led 3-1 after two periods and was less than 20 minutes away from sending the series back to Madison Square Garden before Kreider had the period of a lifetime.
The big left wing cut the deficit to 3-2 by beating Frederik Andersen from behind the goal line at 6:43, then tied the game at 11:54 with a power-play goal. He completed his natural hat trick and put the Rangers ahead 4-3 by tipping Ryan Lindgren’s shot past Andersen at 15:41. Barclay Goodrow’s empty-netter capped the 5-3 win — and one of the great comebacks in Rangers history .
“He took over the game,” captain Jacob Trouba said. “He’s shown the ability to do that at times. … A lot of guys call him ‘The Horse,’ and that’s what he is.”
Kreider was the third Rangers player to score three goals in a series-clinching game — and the first since Mike Gartner in 1990. He joined Mark Messier in the famous “Guarantee Game” in 1994 and Wayne Gretzky in 1997 as the only Rangers to score three goals in one period of a playoff game
“We talk about being a resilient group and a competitive group,” he said afterward, “and I think we showed that tonight.”
May 2, 2012: Marian Gaborik scores 3OT goal against Capitals
Rangers fans of a certain age still remember Pete Stemkowski’s triple-overtime goal in Game 6 of the 1971 Semifinals against the Chicago Black Hawks (as they were known then). The goal at 1:29 of the third OT was the latest goal by the Rangers for more than 40 years, until Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Washington Capitals in 2012.
Each team scored once in the second period before the goaltenders — Henrik Lundqvist of the Rangers and Braden Holtby of the Capitals — took over. The third period was scoreless, as were the first and second overtimes.
The goalies continued their run of perfection until well past the midway point of the period when Marian Gaborik, who had scored 41 regular-season goals but none in the Rangers’ previous eight playoff games, put his name in the team record book.
The goal came practically out of nowhere. Dan Girardi controlled the puck along the right wall in the offensive zone and sent it to Brad Richards behind the net to Holtby’s right. Richards sent a quick pass in front of the net to Gaborik, whose quick shot ended the game at 14:41.
“I just tried to get open,” Gaborik said simply. “It was a beautiful pass. I just tried to get good wood on it.”
In the blink of an eye, the Rangers owned a 2-1 lead in the series, which they went on to win in seven games.
“It was about will,” Gaborik said. “We wanted to win this game, and it feels great to get the winner.”
May 29, 2004: Rangers reach Final for first time in 20 years
Rangers fans in the spring of 2014 were been champing at the bit to get back to the Stanley Cup Final, something that hadn’t happened since the Blueshirts won it all 20 years earlier.
But the 18,006 fans who packed Madison Square Garden for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Montreal Canadiens were confident that this was going to be the night the drought ended. They were right.
The Rangers came out flying. They dominated play in the first period, outshooting the Canadiens 11-5 — but couldn’t get a puck past Dustin Tokarski (Carey Price was out with an injury). The Canadiens nearly broke the scoreless tie early in the second, but Lundqvist made the save of the series when he got his blocker on a shot by Thomas Vanek.
The Rangers finally got on the board from an unlikely source. Dominic Moore found a little room in front, took Brian Boyle’s passout from behind the net and beat Tokarski at 18:07 of the second.
There’s always the temptation to go into a shell in the third period when you’re protecting a lead, but the Rangers opted to stay aggressive — and it paid off. They outshot the Canadiens 13-5 — and as the waning moments of the third period approached, fans began to count down before erupting in celebration as the buzzer ended the 1-0 win. The Garden shook — and the Rangers were back in the Final.
“We played so well the entire game,” Lundqvist said. “For me it was more about just being focused on the shots they had.”
May 8, 2015: Ryan McDonagh’s OT goal saves Rangers season
The Rangers were on the verge of seeing one of the great seasons in their history go down the chute as time ticked down in the third period of Game 5 in the 2015 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Capitals.
The Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers were down 3-1 in the series and 1-0 late in Game 5 in front of a stunned crowd at the Garden.
The clock ticked under 2:00 remaining in regulation with the Rangers still trailing. Coach Alain Vigneault called for Lundqvist to come to the bench in favor of a sixth attacker — but before he could get there, the Rangers tied the score. Derek Stepan’s pass found Kreider, whose shot through traffic went past Holtby with 1:41 remaining to make it 1-1.
The Garden was rocking when the teams came back onto the ice for overtime. The Rangers outplayed the Caps before Stepan controlled the puck in the offensive zone as the midway point of the first OT neared. Defenseman Ryan McDonagh jumped off the bench — and Stepan found him racing toward the slot.
One perfect pass and a well-placed shot later, the Rangers were still alive. The Garden erupted as McDonagh’s shot beat Holtby and gave the Blueshirts a season-saving 2-1 win.
May 13, 2015: Derek Stepan steps up with Game 7 OT winner
Five days after setting up McDonagh’s season-saving overtime goal against Washington, Stepan got the chance to step into the hero’s spotlight on his own.
The Rangers forced Game 7 at the Garden by holding off the Capitals 4-3 at Verizon Center in Game 6. But while logic said the momentum was with the Rangers, the visitors didn’t seem impressed – they grabbed a 1-0 lead when Alex Ovechkin beat Lundqvist at 12:50 of the first period.
However, Capitals defenseman Mike Green took two penalties early in the second period, and the Rangers capitalized on the second one when Kevin Hayes scored at 6:22 to tie the game 1-1. Hayes became the first Rangers rookie to score in a Game 7 since Muzz Patrick in 1939.
The Capitals, who had dominated the first period, had the upper hand late in the second but couldn’t get another puck past Lundqvist. Neither team scored in the third period, so the Rangers were off to overtime for the fourth time in the first two rounds.
Washington had the better of play for much of overtime, but Lundqvist was equal to the task and gave the Rangers a chance to win.
Stepan won an offensive-zone face-off, and Girardi took a shot that was stopped by Holtby. But he couldn’t control the rebound; the puck came into the slot and Stepan buried it — setting off one of the biggest celebrations in Garden history.
The Rangers won their NHL-record sixth consecutive Game 7 and became the first team to win a series in successive years after trailing 3-1, having done the same thing against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round in 2014.
“You have to believe in the group and how we play,” Lundqvist said, “and that someone in this room is going to be the hero.”
On this night, it was Stepan, the second-line center on our All-Quarter Century Rangers team.
