The opening game of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final took place in Denver last night. In the not too distant past, it looked like the Rangers would be the ones skating opposite the Colorado Avalanche with the right to hoist the greatest trophy in sports at stake. Holding a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Blueshirts had the back-to-back defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning in a position they hadn’t been in any of the previous ten playoff series they had emerged victorious from.
From there, it all fell apart. Three dumb penalties from Jacob Trouba and a last minute goal in Game 3 got the Lightning back into the series.