TAMPA, Fla. — The Rangers and their fans recognize the pain associated with losing the Stanley Cup final.
But for Brian Boyle and Anton Stralman, the agony of defeat was twice as bad, for after losing the 2014 final in five games to the Kings as Blueshirts, each then signed with the Lightning as a free agent, and made it back to the final in June only to lose it in six games, this time to the Blackhawks.
“There was a little bit of disbelief,” Boyle said his Lightning squad defeated the Rangers 2-1. “It was a difficult summer. Pretty disappointing. You replay certain things over and over in your mind.”
The Lightning, who had home-ice advantage against Chicago, held a 2-1 lead in the series before dropping the final three games while scoring a sum of two goals. Of course, Tampa Bay reached the final round by eliminating the Rangers in the conference finals by recording a Game 7, 2-0 victory at the Garden.
“Playing in that event two years in a row is pretty cool, and obviously with the Ranger series,” Boyle said. “You get to play another couple of months when nobody in the league is ever guaranteed getting another game, so it was a lot of fun to get there.”
Boyle became a father during the conference finals when his wife, Lauren, gave birth to a boy named Declan, who turned six months old on Thursday.
“The good thing is there were enough distractions over the summer with the new addition to the family,” said the Hingham, Mass., native who gleefully tweeted, “BOOM,” within seconds of the Patriots’ victory over the Giants last Sunday.
Boyle has played 78 playoff games the past four springs, tied with former Ranger Brad Richards for the second-most in that stretch. Stralman, who did not partake in the optional skate and did not chat with the media, has played in 81 postseason matches starting with the Blueshirts’ 2012 run to the conference finals under John Tortorella.
Boyle, you will recall, was sidelined for three games in 2012 after having been concussed by Chris Neil’s headshot in Game 5 of the first-round series against Ottawa.
“Physically there are things you have to adjust to, stuff crops up that’s nagging,” Boyle said. “But three months off are enough to be ready to go.
“There aren’t a lot of professions where you get three months off and get to hang out. We’re fortunate to have that.
“But there is a little bit of a mental aspect to getting going again after you lose [the final], and especially two years in a row. After you lose one, it’s tough enough.”
The Lightning, struck by injuries that sidelined Triplets Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat in addition to Cedric Paquette and Jonathan Drouin for Thursday’s match, enter with an 8-9-3 record after going 1-3-1 in the previous five games.
When healthy, though, the Lightning essentially have the same personnel that pulled off the upset of the Rangers, who then were seeking to become the first losing finalist to return to the party since the 2008-09 Penguins and second in three decades since the 1983-84 Oilers.
Now, that is the charge for the Lighting.
“When you get so close and you want to get back, especially with the group we have here that’s pretty much the same team as last year, you have to remember all the hard work it took to get there,” Boyle said. “With the guys in here, I don’t think that’s an issue.”
The Rangers are seeking to match the franchise record of 10 straight victories first established in 1939-40 and then equaled in 1972-73.
“This is going to be a genuine task,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “Watching the Rangers over the year, Hank [Lundqvist] was carrying them quite a bit, their goaltending was carrying them, but they’ve really found their stride.
“You have to look at them as a top three team in the league,” he said. “It’s going to be a measuring stick for us.”