The New York Rangers are back. The Blueshirts punched their ticket to the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals with a 1-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens Thursday night, defeating the Canadiens 4-2 in their seven-game series.
Dominic Moore scored the game’s only goal in the second period. New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who was pulled in Game 5, rebounded in Game 6 with 18 saves and his first shutout of the playoffs.
“We’ve given ourselves the opportunity to compete for the Cup,” Rangers’ coach Alain Vigneault told Reuters. “It was a great feeling tonight. We played, in my book, probably our best game of the playoffs.”
The Rangers will play the winner of the Western Conference Finals between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings currently lead the series 3-2, with Game 6 played tonight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
On their way to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Rangers defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in seven games in the first round and came back from a 3-1 series deficit against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round.
The 2014 Stanley Cup Finals will mark the first time the Rangers have been back in the Finals in 20 years, when they defeated the Vancouver Canucks in 1994.
In anticipation of the Rangers first chance to win the Stanley Cup in decades, ticket prices have soared, becoming the most expensive in the past five years according to Forbes. The Rangers will play the first two games on the road, with average ticket prices on the secondary for Game 3 and Game 4 priced at $2,202.72 and $2,419.57 respectively. Game 6 is the most expensive with an average ticket price of $2,737.35.
“The fact that the Rangers are in the largest market, there’s going to be a lot stronger appeal than other Eastern Conference teams,” Brad Adgate, research director for New York-based Horizon Media Inc., said to Bloomberg.com. “Tampa Bay? Washington? I mean, Columbus? There’s a really strong fan base in New York that has really come alive.”
The Stanley Cup Finals start on June 4.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
