The Best Time

The elevator ride to floor 5 feels like when a Roman gladiator enters the Coliseum for battle. Once the doors open, I know it’s go-time. As I walk to the locker room, I catch a little glimpse of the Madison Square Garden ice. That’s the best view in America, in my opinion.

Madison Square Garden is a beauty.

Great teams aren’t successful because they have the best snipers or the most talented goalies. Those things help, but they’ll only get you so far. Great teams are successful because they’re great teams. There’s a consistency across the entire roster — across the entire organization, even. Everyone is on the same page, doing the right things to lift each other up.

This is a blue-collar town that expects its team to reflect blue-collar values. Everyone in this locker room gets that. Toe drags and slap shots are great, but Rangers hockey is about more than that. That’s one of the things I really love about playing here. Our fans want active sticks. They want battles for pucks. They want a group that will constantly compete and impose its will from the time the game starts until it ends.

New York, pull on your sweaters. It’s time to go to work.

And now that we’re back, it just feels right. It feels like a brand new season for us.

It feels unbelievable.

We want to win something bigger. Something shinier, with a little more heft to it.

When I make my drive to the arena for Game 1, the techno will be blasting, the New York skyline will be in my sights, and I know my adrenaline level is going to be through the roof.

This is the best time. This is playoff time.

RICK NASH