New York Rangers: No quit in this team as they edge Carolina 2-1

 Face it, the New York Rangers are not that bad.  Though the playoffs are a dream, the Rangers promise to be spoilers for the next seven weeks.

For the second time in five days, the New York Rangers dealt a severe blow to a team with playoff   aspirations. They went into three road arenas facing teams that desperately needed wins and came out with victories in two games.   As the season winds down, the Rangers will be a team that no one wants to play.

Of course, with only three games left before the trade deadline, it is a question of which Ranger team contenders will be facing down the stretch run.  Based on the experience of last season, most fans have no expectations at all, but this year there are many differences.

When Jeff Gorton and Glen Sather sent their letter to the fans launching the rebuild, the team went into an immediate tailspin, going 2-6-1 over nine games before the trade deadline.  The team actually played better after the deadline when they no longer had Rick Nash, Ryan McDonagh, J.T. Miller, Michael Graebner and Nick Holden.  After the deadline the team went 7-9-3, but most fans consider the combined 9-15-4 record post-letter as the one to remember.

This year versus last year

It’s important to realize that this year’s version of the Rangers is a better team than the post-deadline team from last season. Last year the post-deadline starters included names like Cody McLeod, Paul Carey, David Desharnais, Rob O’Gara, Ryan Spooner, Peter Holland, John Gilmour, Ryan Sproul and Neal Pionk.  Except for Pionk, none of those players are starters in the NHL this season.  Kevin Shattenkirk was recovering from knee surgery and Brendan Smith was banished to the minors.

Replace those players with Filip Chytil, Brett Howden, Ryan Strome, Boo Nieves and even Connor Brickley and throw in Shattenkirk, Smith and a revitalized Tony DeAngelo and this year’s edition is head and shoulders above the walking disaster last season.

The final touch is a young, teaching coach who is driven to win and will not accept an effort less than 100 percent, replacing Alain Vigneault who was out of touch with his players and  couldn’t instill a fighting spirit in this team.

Even if the team loses Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello and Adam McQuaid, what’s left of the current edition of the New York Rangers will continue to be a harder team to play.

As much as it pains fans to see the Rangers slip away from the top lottery draft positions, the simple fact is that the team is building a winning culture, a culture that the young players will be better served to adopt.

And finally, there is the ever present foundation of this team, Henrik Lundqvist, who rebounded against Carolina to help the Ranger steal a road win.  Lundqvist was a wall when he needed to be and stopped 43 of 44 Carolina shots.