New York Rangers Beginning to Heat up at the Right Time
After sweeping their four-game homestand, the New York Rangers appear to be heating up for the stretch run.
The New York Rangers are hot.
The Blueshirts have now won five straight hockey games, three of which by one goal. They have managed to pull off four straight wins at the Garden, showing consistency that they looked to have been without for much of the season.
They have a lot of players who are reaching new career highs and all-time marks by the game. We will be talking about this here on the site later this week.
And suddenly, after having a middle of the season slump where the team played like garbage while the other teams in their division took flight, the Rangers are one of the hottest teams in the NHL. The Capitals are the only team with a higher number of wins in a row with six.
The team winning these games lately has been a welcomed occurrence. It seems that for the most part, Henrik Lundqvist is back to being Henrik Lundqvist, guys like Kevin Klein are starting to turn to corner and the team has finally found their lineup.
Was the Competition Good Enough?
One thing that the critics may cite as negative in the Rangers’ winning streak is the quality of teams they played. Of the five teams, only two of them are in a playoff spot currently.
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To this I say; you can only beat who the schedule puts in front of you.
Of course a team like the Avalanche, who they defeated Saturday night is not a playoff caliber team, but in any given game, anything can happen. The Avalanche were winning after two periods, but credit to the Rangers’ leadership group for having the team ready to come out in the third.
The trick here is not to mistake this recent win streak against weaker competition with the Rangers early 15-16 success. The team isn’t winning games they don’t deserve to win. The Rangers have one of the best forward groups in the league and are winning because of their success. Their goalie’s resurgence hasn’t hurt, either.
It’s Go Time!
There are still 27 games remaining in the season, so there is plenty of time, for better or worse. The Rangers managed to accumulate a very healthy amount of points in the first half despite injuries and not playing their best. Now that they are healthy and that most of them are turning the corner, this is a very dangerous team going forward.
Next: The KZZ Line Needs to Be Kept Together Permanently
The Rangers currently sit in the top Wild Card position in the East. If they are still in that Wild Card slot come playoff time, they will be the team no division winner wants to play.