Any potential 1st round opponent for NYR is beatable. Columbus, Washington, Philidelphia are not world beaters.
Problem becomes if NYR win the first round, the chances are extremely high they will see Pitt in the 2nd round.
Unless upsets happen, NYR would have to go through both Pitt and Boston just to get to the finals vs a team like Anaheim, Chicago, or St. Louis.
To be the best, you more often than not have to beat the best as cliche as it is.
Rangers are finally starting to find their resiliency showing some good come from behind wins and not losing more than 2 games back to back in over a month now?
Playoffs are a whole new ball game.
LA is really bad at scoring goals.