Five characteristics of this New York Rangers season

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 12: Chris Kreider #20 and Marc Staal #18 celebrate with Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers after Zibanejad scored a goal against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on December 12, 2019 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

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Evander Kane #9 of the San Jose Sharks takes a shot on goal against Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers /

3. They give up center ice too easily

This one is pretty easy to notice, because the majority of opposing teams do not allow the Rangers to get in this prime scoring position. What’s worse is that their coverage is never even enough to make up for allowing them to set up in the middle.

In most occasions when the opposing scoring player is not scoring directly from the slot, their teammates are set up there and able to feed clean passes. The Rangers need to increase their coverage here and break up cross-ice passes like we see other teams do.

https://twitter.com/SanJoseSharks/status/1205360350138228737?s=20

In general, the Rangers could push for more offensive zone time, but as of late that has been one of their strengths in certain periods. The opening period can sometimes make or break the Blueshirts in terms of zone time for the rest of the game.

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