When the first round is the best round, that often means that it is also the only round. Because teams that go on long playoff runs have moments piled atop moments on the way to the Stanley Cup final.
But opening rounds can provide for an excellent appetizer. Opening rounds, though, are not to be confused with preliminary rounds, which is what the NHL featured in the form of best-of-three’s from 1975 through 1979 and then division semifinals that were best-of-five’s from 1980 through 1987.
There have been multiple eras through Rangers’ history in which first rounds were the only rounds, though not lately.