Jets, New York Rangers in Stanley Cup final: Book it!

It’s hockey’s biggest market against its smallest. The Statue of Liberty versus the Golden Boy. Times Square meets Osborne Village.

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As lopsided as the comparisons between megalopolis New York and relatively tiny Winnipeg are, try this on for size: Tuesday night’s Madison Square Garden matchup between the Rangers and Jets could be a preview of the Stanley Cup Final.

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I know what many of you are thinking: Friesen has officially lost his mind.

Maybe some of you are screaming it out loud.

But there’s really nothing insane about it. Just look at the NHL standings today.

The Rangers are tied with Florida for the most wins (45) and hold the best points percentage (.691) in the East, while the Jets are tied with Colorado for wins (43) and have the best points percentage in the West (.679).

These teams aren’t just playoff bound, they’re locked and loaded for a deep run.

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They may play in cities at the opposite ends of the spectrum, but they have one nasty thing in common: For opponents, points are equally hard to come by in both places.

The Rangers are 24-8 at home, the Jets 23-9-2. Only mile-high Colorado has more wins on home ice.

There are other similarities when it comes to talent on the roster.

Both teams have four players with at least 20 goals.

The Rangers have five players with 50 or more points, tied for the most in the league, and the Jets could have five or six by the end of Tuesday’s game: Tyler Toffoli (49), Nik Ehlers (49), Sean Monahan (48) and Kyle Connor (47) will join Mark Scheifele (59) and Josh Morrissey (56) any day now.

Check out this assessment of the Rangers from Larry Brooks of the New York Post on Monday.

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They have received superior netminding from both Igor Shesterkin… and Jonathan Quick. And they are getting contributions straight down the lineup after a pair of holes up front were filled with deadline acquisitions Alex Wennberg and Jack Roslovic.

Now re-write that paragraph from a Winnipeg perspective, inserting the names Connor Hellebuyck, Laurent Brossoit, Monahan and Toffoli.

The Rangers may not have needed the high-end scoring that Monahan and Toffoli brought to Winnipeg before the trade deadline, but now that the Jets have got it they have an equally potent lineup.

Neither team makes its living setting scoring records, though. Neither is in the NHL’s top five for goals.

However, they’re both in the top five in goals against, and we don’t have to tell you which one of those is more important.

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Saunter into the respective dressing rooms and you’ll also get a matching vibe.

After a Sunday win over the Islanders, the Rangers’ Artemi Panarin told The Post what impresses him the most about his team is the quality of the people.

“Hockey is a pretty honest game and if you have a good group of guys in there working together, that’s the way to success,” Panarin said. “Of course, you have to have good players, too. We have that. Good people and good players. That’s what it looks like.”

That may as well be an echo off the walls of the Jets dressing room this season.

There are even similarities behind the bench, where both Peter Laviolette and Rick Bowness are veterans guiding their sixth NHL team as head coaches.

Both have recent crushing losses in the Cup Final, Laviolette with Nashville in 2017, Bowness with Dallas in 2020.

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The one big difference: Laviolette, 59, hoisted the Stanley Cup with Carolina 18 springs ago, while the 69-year-old Jets boss is still looking for that moment.

I’ll take this storyline in a Cup Final any day.

There’s a villain, too, if that’s your thing.

Rangers defenceman Jacob Trouba is one of those who wanted out of Winnipeg. Now he’s the Rangers captain, although he’s out with an injury.

The Jets landed defenceman Neal Pionk and a first-round draft pick out of the Trouba deal. Not a bad return.

Too bad Rangers winger and former Jets captain Blake Wheeler hurt his knee, because he’d add another layer of intrigue after the Jets bought him out last summer.

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So give us Gotham and the ’Peg, by all means. The City That Never Sleeps against one that never quits.

It would be a true David and Goliath tale. A market most players would move to in a New York minute against one almost nobody wants to get traded to.

When Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff talked about having to “punch above your weight” earlier this season, he was talking about teams like New York.

Recently, though, his team has fallen woefully short of matching the league’s heavyweights.

Recent losses to Nashville and Vancouver have raised questions about that quest to go deep in the playoffs, questions not answered by romps over also-rans such as Anaheim and Columbus.

“We’re playing one of, if not the top team in the league right now,” Bowness said of Tuesday’s tilt. “We know we haven’t played as well against the top teams lately as we can. It’ll be a good test for us.”

The little team from the prairie trying to take a bite from the Big Apple.

It should give us something to chew on.

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X: @friesensunmedia

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