The Rangers’ season ended Friday night with a 2-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the N.H.L.’s Eastern Conference finals. Tampa Bay took the series, four games to three.
For the second straight year, the Rangers were denied late in the playoffs while attempting to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup since 1994. Last season, they lost in the Cup finals in five games. This season, the Rangers could not overcome the Lightning’s offensive talent, led by Steven Stamkos and the Triplets line of Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat.