Rangers are headed in positive direction at 20-game mark of the season
Rangers center J.T. Miller, left, celebrates with teammates after defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets in a shootout at Nationwide Arena on Saturday. Credit: Imagn Images/Aaron Doster
The Rangers hit the 20-game mark of the season Sunday against Detroit. That’s a quarter of the way into the 82-game season, which should be enough of a sample size now to be able to look at what they’ve done and draw some conclusions about who they are, and where they’re going.
And up until the moment when the team announced that coach Mike Sullivan would be a surprise scratch for Sunday night’s game at the Garden against the Red Wings, for personal reasons, it sure looked like they were going in a positive direction.
They’d won three straight games, and six of seven, and began Sunday in a playoff spot, with a 10-7-2 record (22 points). They were the second wild card, one spot behind the Islanders, and one ahead of the night’s opponent, the Red Wings.
Whether Sullivan was going to be on the flight when the Rangers left Monday for Las Vegas to start a three-game road trip was unknown, and certainly, if the coach were to miss an extended period, that would be another challenge for the team to overcome. But, taking the optimistic viewpoint, if Sullivan is back relatively soon, then the team looks to be in pretty good shape after a rough start.
They’ve been on the road a lot, and have thrived, going 9-1-1 in 11 games, and winning five straight. Their nine away wins were tied with the L.A. Kings (9-1-2) for most in the league, and they’d allowed an average of 2.47 goals against per game, which was tied for second-best in the league, with Pittsburgh.
And while their 2.58 goals for per game were third-worst in the league, they’d scored 15 goals in the three games before Sunday, including a power-play goal in each (3-for-7) and four PPGs in 12 chances over the last five games. That followed a string of five games (12 opportunities) without one.
They beat banged-up Tampa Bay, 7-3, on Wednesday, and beat Columbus, 2-1, in a shootout Saturday in the front end of a back-to-back.
“I just think it's evidence that we can win different ways,’’ Sullivan said after the win at Columbus. “I think a sign of a good team is when they have a comfort level playing in a one-goal game and a low-scoring game, and I believe that we're developing that comfort level playing in a close, one-goal, low-scoring game. And I think that's a sign of a good team, when you can play in your end zone and defend, and you don't have to hit the panic button, and you just have a certain level of confidence that everybody's going to do their job.’’
So far, everyone is doing their job. The forwards are forechecking – something previous coaches never seemed to be able to get the Rangers to do on a consistent basis – the defense has seemingly adapted to the new zone defense Sullivan has them playing in the defensive zone, and of course, the goalies, No. 1 Igor Shesterkin and backup Jonathan Quick, Sunday’s starter, have been brilliant.
It's a formula that should be able to get the Rangers back in the playoffs after they missed out last season, although what probably should go without saying is they’ll need to stay healthy. When Vincent Trocheck missed 14 games earlier this season with an upper-body injury, it left a huge hole in the top-6 forward group, and the team went 6-6-2 without him. After he came back last week against Nashville, they went 3-0 entering Sunday, outscoring opponents 15-7. Another long term injury to a top-6 forward or top-pair defenseman would upset the delicate balance that’s working so well right now.
Bottom line? After 20 games, this is what the Rangers are: They’re good enough, so long as they stay healthy.
Notes & quotes: Before the game, the Rangers returned forward Gabe Perreault to AHL Hartford and, with defenseman Will Borgen missing his second straight game with an upper-body injury, recalled defenseman Scott Morrow. Morrow made his Rangers debut against the Red Wings, playing on a third pair with Matthew Robertson… Forward Juuso Parssinen and D Urho Vaakanainen were the healthy scratches… Both the Rangers and Red Wings, who entered the NHL together in 1926 and are both celebrating their Centennial seasons, wore their Centennial jerseys, with the Red Wings in red and the Rangers in blue… Before the game, the Garden had a moment of silence to honor the late New York Post hockey writer Larry Brooks, who died Thursday after a brief battle with cancer.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
