It has been 21 years since the Rangers last won the Stanley Cup, so their onslaught of 2-1 scores in the current postseason feels like an improvised Morse code reaching out to the past: 2-1, 2-1, 2-1, 2-1, 2-1, 2-1, 2-1, 2-1.
To review, as the Rangers battled past the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals to reach the Eastern Conference finals, which began Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, eight games ended with a 2-1 verdict. Six of them went the Rangers’ way, including all four of the contests they won in overtime.
Even more remarkable was that the Rangers, dating to the final two games of the 2014 Stanley Cup finals against the Los Angeles Kings, had played 14 consecutive playoff games decided by one goal — an N.