Playoffs about to get real now for Rangers

The playoffs are about to begin now in earnest for the Rangers.

Whenever the Game 1 date between the Rangers and Hurricanes in their second-round meeting is announced by the NHL, that’s when the Rangers’ chase for a first Stanley Cup in 30 years gets real.

Yes, the Rangers have played four games since the end of the regular season. But those games came against a limited Washington Capitals team that some would argue didn’t belong in the postseason, having allowed 37 more goals than it scored in the regular season.

You play whoever’s on your schedule, and you make no apologies for it. So, the Rangers owe no one an apology for sweeping the Capitals in the opening round.

But the Capitals were an offensively challenged team with an inexperienced goaltender facing a more explosive and experienced Rangers team that happens to have one of the best netminders in the game and has much more realistic goals about raising the chalice in June.

So, now the cost of doing business rises for the Rangers in this round against a Carolina team that finished just three points behind them in the Eastern Conference’s Metropolitan Division and finished off the Islanders in five games Tuesday night.