Some losses are more challenging than others. For New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider, the six-game loss to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers remains a painful reminder of what could have been.
“I just don’t think you ever downshift after that,” Kreider said from the Shoulder Check Showcase at Terry Conners Rink on Thursday. “Personally, I haven’t really been able to, so I just think you roll right into next season and continue to get better as a team and as individuals.”
The Rangers held a two-to-one lead in the series, then dropped the next three games by one goal and were eliminated following a President Trophy season in which the club won 53 games, the most in franchise history. The postseason is a different animal, one that shows how the success of an 82-game regular season does not transfer over to a championship.
The 12-year NHL veteran respected the Panthers’ style of play against the Blueshirt, a style that he believes the Rangers could resemble because it has proven to work.
“I think that was the best team we played all year, I think they had absolutely zero ego to their game. They got to their game quicker than any other team. They had complete buy-in up and down their lineup, and to a man we all knew we were right there with them. It’s a game of inches so we’ve got to do the things right now in the offseason going into camp to make sure we come out on the other side of those close ones. “It’s that simple playoff style,” Kreider said. “It works. It works. We’re capable of doing those things and the more consistently we do those I think it just becomes the law of averages.”
Kreider even forced himself to watch some of the Stanley Cup Finals, “I just wanted to suffer through it.”
The team opening up at training camp next month will be similar to the one that went through the ECF loss in May.
The Rangers added Reily Smith and Sam Carrick while seeing Barclay Goodrow, Erik Gustafsson, Jack Roslovic, and Alex Wennberg leave the Blueshirts.
That sting Kreider has been mentioning does spread throughout most of the team and, hopefully, will continue to remind them what they need to do to win a Stanley Cup.
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