34-17-9

From a fantastic 7 Game win streak (and points in 10 games) directly into falling down and skidding into a wall. The overtime loss to Calgary was a rally that didn’t make it all the way. The loss to Winnipeg could be argued that the Rangers didn’t play poorly, the other goalie stood on his head and spun around like a tornado to make ridiculous save after ridiculous save. The loss to Detroit was crap and then to Washington was embarrassing (they were on a 6 game losing streak!).

The defense just…stopped playing defense. Terrible passes all over the place, bad penalties, and more turnovers that led to odd-man rushes than you should ever need to count. Shesterkin frequently looked like he was being surprised by shots coming at him which is bizarre to see (which is an understatement).

That brings us to the Sunday game versus the LA Kings. The Rangers team showed up for this one, thankfully. 5-2 win against an excellent team. Everyone contributed, the defense in particular was flying all night. Trouba played possibly his best game of the season. Trocheck has been the best forward all week and he nabbed 2 goals in this one that gave the team a huge early boost. I hope he keeps up his play…the schedule for March is a gauntlet.

There are days left before the trade deadline and it looks like the Rangers’ front office is moving mountains to make a huge, final deal. The remainder of the regular season is going to be nuts. There are very close races in every division.

33-14-9

The New York Rangers almost swept another week of games. The 7th win in a row came against the Oilers in an amazing 3-0 and then 4-1 comeback rally to win the game in a 6 round shootout. Tremendous determination and teamwork were on display. They almost did it again last night against Calgary. The Rangers started off being embarrassed in the first minute of the game going down 2-0. They slowly pulled it together, forcing the game into overtime but a penalty gave Calgary the edge they needed to win the game. Still, they stole a point and are 8-0-2 in the last 10 games. They haven’t lost in regulation in almost 3 weeks.

We are still seeing slow starts and far too many turnovers. Those put you on the defensive way more than you want to be. The powerplay has improved this week (moved up to 10th in the league!) and the penalty kill is still good but could be better. Tarasenko scored his second goal last night, Mikkola is playing well, Trocheck is playing better, and Kakko and Lafreniere are continuing to put up points. Kakko and Laffy more or less won the Oilers game (amazing 3rd goal in regulation with Kakko doing some hard on the boards to dish it off to Laffy to bury the puck in the net AND they both scored in the shootout AND Laffy tied last night’s game). Chytil’s point streak has stopped but it’s not for lack of effort.

In the big news today, Julien Gauthier and a 2023 7th round draft pick were traded to Ottawa for Tyler Motte. We are now seeing efforts into improving the 4th line which currently is barely being used. Motte was part of the big trades last season that made a huge difference. The team didn’t keep him, which is a surprise, but now he’s back and it’s expected he’ll fit in well again. He should be fantastic on the PK. I liked Gauthier but he didn’t make enough of an impact on the team to raise his station. Given the right team and system, I think he can develop and thrive.

The Metro division is a bit of a warzone right now and that’s making the Eastern playoff battle interesting. The Rangers are just 2 points behind the Devils for 2nd place. Buffalo and Detroit are pushing to steal the wildcard spot and the Islanders, Penguins, and Capitals are leaving the door open for them. This week is another important one and the first challenge is Winnipeg at MSG tomorrow night. We’re very close to the final quarter of the season so playoff madness is beginning and the trade deadline is just 2 weeks away. Another Rangers trade is expected to bolster the bottom six further.

30-14-8

The Rangers went undefeated in their 4 games, including last night’s 6-2 win against Carolina, the #1 team in the Metro division (2 of Carolina’s 10 regulation losses are from the Rangers). This pushes the win streak to 5 in a row.

The big news was the mid-week trade with the St. Louis Blues. GM and President Chris Drury worked his magic again. Last season he brought in 4 great players to patch up the team’s holes and those moves got the team to the Conference Finals. Now with the huge score of Vladimir Tarasenko (RW) and the lower-line defensive pickup of Niko Mikkola, the team has gotten stronger. Fans and those in hockey media have been saying for years that the team has needed a high-quality top line RW. After Pavel Buchnevich was traded to the Blues 2 years ago because the Rangers didn’t have enough money to resign him, it’s been a pretty glaring issue. Sammy Blais was the major acquisition in that trade and it didn’t work because he got a serious knee injury at the start of last season and he hasn’t been able to rebound this season. The Blues took him back in this trade along with a prospect and 2 draft picks.

Tarasenko is friends with Panarin and it shows. It’s been a while since we’ve seen the Breadman this happy. He got an assist on Tarasenk’s first goal as a Ranger. First shot, second shift, goal. It was nuts, which started the lead against Seattle, which they never gave up. And then Panarin went nuts last night and scored 4 goals! Mikkola is from Finland, and not only does Kakko now have a countryman right by him, they’ve played together in the junior league a few years ago.

So the Rangers’ locker room is buzzing and everyone is gelling on the ice. The power play has come back to life with Zibanejad leading the charge. Chytil, Lafreniere, Kakko or absolutely flying right now. They are all getting points all over the place! Together they are pulling off what we’ve hoped for years would happen.

If things continue like this, the Rangers are now incredibly dangerous. The skilled players are now spread out through all the lines making matchups much harder. There are way more defensive strategies opposing teams need to do now. There are goal-scoring threats all over the place.

Is Drury done? Can he make another move to shore up the 4th line even more? The trade deadline is at the beginning of March.