It’s been 20 years since a Stanley Cup Final game was played in New York City and with the New York Rangers returning home down 2-0 to the Los Angeles Kings, the atmosphere at Madison Square Garden figures to be intense.
Rangers coach Alain Vigneault was asked after this morning’s skate about where his team is at heading into tonight’s game and he feels like they’re in a good place despite being down.
“Chance-wise we’re right there with them,” Vigneault said. “We played some good hockey. We got a little bit unfortunate in that last third period. But, you know, we’re right there. We feel real good about our game. Going to be a great night to be hockey fans tonight.”
To say Rangers fans have been waiting for a while to be back on this stage is putting it lightly. A viewing of Game 1 in Bryant Park brought out over 10,000 fans and tickets on secondary markets like StubHub, as of this writing, start at $800.
If home ice advantage can’t give the Rangers a lift, they might have to deal with watching the Kings lift the Cup on their turf.