39-17-3

After the rousing Stadium Series come back win, the Rangers wave continued through Dallas with a hard-fought 2-1 victory. Then, it was on to New Jersey, where an absolute dominant 5-1 clinic was laid out. Next was a toe-to-toe war with Philadelphia where the Flyers did everything they could to tie the game, but the Rangers squeaked the 2-1 lead through the final seconds (seriously, the Flyers barely missed a goal with 6 seconds remaining).

That brought us to 10 wins in a row and this evening’s 5th game in a week versus Columbus. They’re not good, wallowing in the bottom quarter of the league. But what I was afraid of happening, happened. In the 10th back-to-back of the season, the Rangers ran out of gas. The Flyers took a lot out of them, it was 60 minutes of peak physical hockey. Columbus dominated the entire game. Quick did everything he could to keep his team in the game but they couldn’t keep up. The Rangers managed to tie the game twice but the mistakes kept stacking up. Slow and sloppy, the Rangers gave up an absurd amount of center-ice high-chance slot shots.

This has been a crazy month for the Rangers. This is only the 3rd time in franchise history they’ve won ten times in a row. 1971-72 was the last season it happened. In the 2015-16 season, they hit nine. This week in particular was arguably one of the best stretches they’ve had in recent memory. Crazy comebacks, tight wins, fantastic defense, Shesterkin returning to form (currently 6 wins in a row) and Matt Rempe hit the NHL and everyone knows about him now. Rempe keeps getting challenged during warm-ups to fight and he’s like ‘OK!” I hope it stops because it’s reached the point where he’s fighting more than boxers do. Getting into full-fledged fist fights every other day is not healthy.

It’s been an absolute rollercoaster. It’s disappointing that the fuse that was lit almost a month ago just fizzled out. Losing to Columbus like that is rather embarrassing and that’s the second time they’ve won this season (Columbus is now at 19 regulation wins). This week is much calmer. Starting with Columbus at MSG on Wednesday, I think it’s safe to say revenge will be had. Then it’s Toronto (who are now playing well) on Saturday and that’s it for the week. The Rangers were so close to a flawless month! But thems the breaks and the Rangers remain at the top of the league, behind Vancouver by one point and tied for second with Boston at 81 points.