Rangers to end season with first Stanley Cup championship since 1994

The New York Rangers have the best goalie in the NHL this season, a top power play, a 50-goal scorer, four players with at least 70 points and a consistent top four on defense.

The Rangers are talented, deep, well-coached and hungry. They will win 16 playoff games for the first time since 1994.
Igor Shesterkin is the favorite to win the Vezina Trophy voted as the best goalie in the NHL and there's zero reason to believe he will change how he has played now despite having one game of NHL postseason experience, a 4-1 loss that eliminated the Rangers in Game 3 of the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers against the Carolina Hurricanes in 2020.
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Shesterkin was 36-13-4 with a 2.07 goals-against average, .935 save percentage and six shutouts in 53 games. He was first in GAA and save percentage among NHL goalies to play at least 10 games this season.
He was the main reason the Rangers were in the thick of the playoff race despite being a run-and-gun team that would trade chances before the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline on March 21.
The Rangers have forechecked better and stopped trading chances as much since, but Shesterkin's game hasn't changed. He was the top goalie before, remains that now, and will be the best goalie in the playoffs too.
A big reason for the Rangers transformation into a better puck-possession team and more adept defensively was the additions of forwards Andrew Copp and Frank Vatrano. Copp was acquired in a trade with the Winnipeg Jets on March 21, Vatrano from the Florida Panthers on March 16.

The Rangers have controlled 51.5 percent of the shot attempts at 5-on-5 since Vatrano arrived; they were at 45.5 percent prior to the trade.
The trades have made the Rangers lineup deeper, a necessary ingredient to win in the postseason.
Vatrano has been a regular on the first line with center Mika Zibanejad (81 points) and left wing Chris Kreider (77 points), who scored 52 goals, beating his previous NHL career high by 24.
Copp found a home on the second line with center Ryan Strome and left wing Artemi Panarin, who had 96 points (22 goals, 74 assists).
Kreider scored an NHL-high 26 power-play goals. Panarin had 37 points on the power play. Defenseman Adam Fox got 33 of his 74 points with the man-advantage. New York was fourth in the NHL on the power play at 25.2 percent.
The added depth gave the Rangers a dangerous third line with Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Barclay Goodrow, who won the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning each of the past two seasons playing on a dangerous third line.
The Rangers improved throughout the season. With Shesterkin leading the way, they will make it the best spring in New York since 1994.