2013–14 New York Rangers season

The 2013–14 New York Rangers season was the franchise's 87th season of play and their 88th season overall. It was the Rangers' first season in the newly created Metropolitan Division, which was created during the NHL's realignment in the 2013 offseason. The Rangers won 25 road games in the regular season, setting a franchise record. The Rangers returned to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since their championship in the 1993–94 season, losing in five games to the Los Angeles Kings.

Off-season
The Rangers first order of business for the 2013–14 season was to find a new head coach after letting John Tortorella go on May 29, 2013. The Rangers hired recently fired Canucks coach Alain Vigneault on June 21. Coincidentally, Tortorella would be hired as the new Canucks coach only days after Vigneault was hired by the Rangers. The Rangers finished their coaching staff on August 6 by hiring Scott Arniel as an associate coach, along with former players Ulf Samuelsson and Daniel Lacroix as assistant coaches.

Pre-season
The New York Rangers lost five of their six pre-season games, during which they scored nine goals and allowed 22 goals against. They went 2-for-22 on the power play and allowed five power play goals against in the last three games.

Regular season
Due to final stages of renovations at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers opened the season on a nine-game road trip from October 3 to 24, during which the team went 3–6–0. The Rangers had a franchise-record nine-game homestand from December 7 to 23, during which they had a record of 3–4–2.

As part of the 2014 NHL Stadium Series games, the Rangers played two consecutive outdoor games at Yankee Stadium on January 26 against the New Jersey Devils (7–3 win) and on January 29 against the New York Islanders (2–1 win).

The NHL took a two-week break from February 9 to February 25 for the Olympics. The Rangers had seven players represent their countries: Ryan Callahan, Ryan McDonagh and Derek Stepan for the United States; Rick Nash for Canada; Mats Zuccarello for Norway; and Carl Hagelin and Henrik Lundqvist for Sweden.

On April 7, with a New Jersey Devils loss to the Calgary Flames, the Rangers clinched a playoff spot for the fourth consecutive season, and for the eighth time out of nine seasons.

On April 10, with a 2–1 win over the Buffalo Sabres and a Philadelphia Flyers 4–2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Rangers clinched second place in their division and home ice advantage for the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Playoffs
The New York Rangers ended the 2013–14 regular season as the Metropolitan Division's second seed. They defeated the third seed Philadelphia Flyers in the first round, 4–3. Then they faced the first seed Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round of the playoffs. For the first time in Rangers history, the team came back from a 3–1 series deficit to win the series in seven games to reach the third round for the first time since 1997. Next, they defeated the Atlantic Division's third seed Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Final in the third round, 4–2, and became the Eastern Conference Champions. They are the first team in NHL history that played the maximum of 14 games over the first two rounds and still had enough to advance to the final. After 20 years, the Rangers headed to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they faced the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Kings, marking the first time since the Yankees and the Dodgers played in the 1981 World Series that teams from New York City and Los Angeles met for a major professional sports championship. The Rangers lost three games in overtime and lost the series 4–1.



Player statistics
Final stats
 * Skaters


 * Goaltenders

†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Rangers. Stats reflect time with the Rangers only.

‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Rangers only.

Bold/italics denotes franchise record.

Transactions
The Rangers were involved in the following transactions during the 2013–14 season:

Draft picks
New York Rangers' picks at the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, which was held in Newark, New Jersey, on June 30, 2013.


 * Draft notes
 * The New York Rangers' first-round pick went to the Columbus Blue Jackets as the result of a July 23, 2012, trade that sent Rick Nash, Steven Delisle and a 2013 conditional third-round pick to the Rangers in exchange for Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, Tim Erixon and this pick.
 * The New York Rangers' second-round pick went to the San Jose Sharks as the result of an April 2, 2013, trade that sent Ryane Clowe to the Rangers in exchange for a 2013 third-round pick (previously acquired from Florida), a 2014 conditional round pick and this pick.
 * The Nashville Predators' third-round pick went to the New York Rangers as a result of a June 23, 2012, trade that sent a 2012 third-round pick (#89–Brendan Leipsic) to the Predators in exchange for this pick.
 * The Columbus Blue Jackets' third-round pick went to the New York Rangers as a result of a July 23, 2012, trade that sent Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, Tim Erixon and a 2013 first-round pick to the Blue Jackets in exchange for Rick Nash, Steven Delisle and this pick.
 * The New York Rangers' fifth-round pick went to the Nashville Predators as the result of a June 23, 2012, trade that sent a 2012 fifth-round pick (#142–Thomas Spelling) to the Rangers in exchange for this pick.
 * The New York Rangers' seventh-round pick went to the Minnesota Wild as the result of a February 3, 2012, trade that sent Casey Wellman to the Rangers in exchange for Erik Christensen and this pick.