Dec 21, 2014; New York, NY, USA; The New York Rangers celebrate after defeating the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers defeated the Hurricanes 1-0. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
December 29th, 2014 the New York Rangers winning streak finally came to an end against the Dallas Stars. The Rangers luck seemed to run out as soon as Antoine Roussel of the Dallas Stars found a lose puck infront of a wide open net that caromed off the boards. But there was many positives that came out of the winning streak, and it was definitely fun while the winning streak lasted.
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One thing that improved during the winning streak was special teams. Especially the atrocious powerplay unit, the Rangers have now scored 6 powerplay goals in their last six games and have moved up to 18th in the NHL in powerplay percentage. The Rangers penalty kill unit, which was a huge part of why they were successful last season, appears to have reached it’s highest level of play. The penalty kill is now 13th ranked in the NHL and needs to continue its upward trend.
Eyes On Isles
Also, since the winning streak more players are starting to find their game. Lets start with Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh, who scored not only his first goal of the season at the start of the winning streak, but also scored the game winning goal in Madison Square Garden against the Hurricanes on Sunday, December 21st . McDonagh appears to be healthy and at the top of his game which is most vital for the Rangers. Derek Stepan and Rick Nash also both had hattricks in back to back games. Rick Nash wound up scoring his first hattirck as a New York Ranger which will only help his confidence gain. Derek Stepan, arguably the Rangers best all around forward on team has 22 points in 22 games and has been showing why since his return from injury why he is one of the Rangers most important players. The most surprising and overwhelming player since the Rangers winning streak was JT Miller. Since the beginning of the Rangers winning streak head coach Alain Vigneualt has had JT Miller playing the top 6, because he was contributing so well. Alain Vigneault wounded up demoting Chris Kreider to the 4th line for a few games, but now that has changed as Miller is still fighting for a roster spot and he has now been demoted to the 4th line. It will be compelling to see if JT Miller can continue his emergence and put pressure on other forwards to improve their play.
Most importantly the Rangers made a huge jump in the standings, which includes in the Metropolitan division. The Rangers are only 7 points behind and have 2 games in hand on both the Pittsburgh Penguins and their hated rivals the New York Islanders. The 8 winning streak brought the Rangers back for a chance to compete for first place Hockey in not only the Metropolitan division but, in the entire NHL. The Rangers will play the Islanders twice and the Penguins once next month, and those game could have a dramatic impact on the standings. For the Rangers to compete for first place, winning games at a consistent pace must continue.