The battle for the Stanley Cup is well underway as the New York Rangers are set to take on the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 2 of the Eastern Conference playoffs on Sunday night.
But for diehard Blueshirts fans, planning a trip to North Carolina to watch the games may be difficult — Ticketmaster is prohibiting people who live outside the North Carolina area from purchasing tickets.
Upon checkout, fans are greeted with this disclaimer before submitting their payment for the tickets:
“PNC Arena is located in Raleigh, NC. Sales to this event will be restricted to residents of North Carolina, South Carolina and southern parts of Virginia,” the website reads. “Residency will be based on credit card billing address. Orders by residents outside North Carolina, South Carolina and southern Virginia will be canceled without notice and refunds given.”
Games 3, 4, and potentially 6 are slated to be hosted at the PNC Arena.
Naturally, Rangers fans took to social media to point out that the North Carolina area has plenty of New York transplants, and restricting ticket sales probably won’t be very effective.
It’s funny that the hurricanes trying to keep Rangers fans from PNC when it’s a whole lot of us here
— Your Majesty ?? (@the3jsmom) May 2, 2024
What is funny about that is there are so many Rangers fans in this area it won’t matter. The regular season game I went to at PNC Arena was filled with Rangers fans, and I can assure you no one from NY flew to RDU for a Tuesday night game.
— NC-HOKIE (@BGHokie) May 1, 2024
Seeing how most of Cary is made up of NY transplants, Rangers will be represented well, as they are every game in PNC
— Melissa (@VoakesFan) May 1, 2024
They’re scared! Rightfully so I think Rangers fans will still invade PNC.
— roy cacciola (@RoyCacciola) May 1, 2024
The last time the two teams faced off in the playoffs was in 2022 when the Rangers emerged victorious after Game 7 of Round 2. The same ticket disclaimer for PNC game tickets was reportedly in place then, too.
Dates and times have not yet been released for the rest of the series.
The New York Rangers do not have a restriction on who can purchase tickets for Game 1 at Madison Square Garden, though getting into the arena will cost you.
As of Friday afternoon, the cheapest official tickets listed through Ticketmaster were standing room only (no assigned seat) for $343 a pop.
Game 1 of the Rangers and Hurricanes in Round 2 of the Eastern Conference Playoffs will start at 4 p.m. EST on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.