Rangers' Ryan Strome: 'We've always believed in each other'

GREENBURGH, N.Y. — The makeover of the Rangers organization, completed this season, seems to have taken place so long ago now. Four years after The Letter, when the organization officially notified its fans in February 2018 of its intentions to rebuild, the Blueshirts are in the Eastern Conference final, four victories away from playing for a Stanley Cup.

They got there by beating the Metropolitan Division champion Carolina Hurricanes in seven games, closing them out with a 6-2 victory on the road in Raleigh, N.C. on Monday.

But to get to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Rangers will have to go through the Tampa Bay Lightning, the two-time defending champions. Game 1 of the best-of-seven series will be Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.

Ryan Strome wasn’t a Ranger at the time of The Letter, but the 28-year-old center was one of the first veterans the Rangers added to be part of the new core, being acquired by then-general manager Jeff Gorton from Edmonton in a trade for Ryan Spooner in the fall of 2018.

So Strome has been around for most of the rebuild. And while he said Tuesday at the Rangers’ pre-series media day at their MSG Training Center that it was hard to look at the big picture of how far the Rangers have come in the last four years, he called it “a nice feeling’’ to be in the NHL’s final four after missing the playoffs for the last four years.

“I think we've come together, and we've always believed in each other, and it's nice to be rewarded a little bit now,’’ he said. “I think we've put in a lot of hard work last two, three seasons, and we've continued to build. And… we've come to work every day and we've said the right things. And to see that pay off is a nice feeling.

“We're halfway to our goal [of winning a Stanley Cup], and it's definitely been a nice climb for the group of us that have been through it,’’ he continued. “It hasn't always been easy, but it's what it's all about, and it feels really good after each win. And each series gets a little bit sweeter.’’

Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad are the only two players on the roster who were on the roster at the time of The Letter (Filip Chytil, a 2017 first-round pick, had made the team out of training camp that season, but played two games before being sent down to AHL Hartford).

Kreider is the only one left on the roster who played in the 2015 Eastern Conference final, which the Rangers lost in seven games to the Lightning.

Asked Tuesday his recollection of that series, Kreider spoke about the relative experience of the Rangers at that time, compared to the young Lightning.

“I think our group was either 6-0, or 7-0 in Game 7,’’ Kreider said (they had won six straight Game 7s between 2012 and 2015). “And I don't think Tampa had played in a Game 7 yet. And they beat us.’’

The teams have traded places since then. Now it is the Lightning who are the experienced group, and the Rangers, who had not played in the playoffs since 2017, are the young guns.

But Kreider said the Rangers won’t be intimidated.

“I think experience matters, and having guys who have been there and know what it takes to win matters,’’ Kreider said. “At the same time, we have those [experienced] guys on our team, so at the end of the day, it's a hockey game… between 20 guys on one side and 20 guys on the other side. So we’ve got to continue to do the things that we've done well and that have given us success at this point.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.