New York Rangers: All hail the new King, other takeaways

3. Lessons learned

I mentioned in my Takeaways piece from the Buffalo Sabres game that this Rangers team need to learn how to play boring hockey.

You can’t get away with playing sexy hockey that leaves your jaw on the floor all the time if you want to be successful in the NHL.

Size and brute force are still important intangibles in the modern game, and the St. Louis Blues proved that last year when they won the Stanley Cup with a team full of skilled but big and physical players.

Sometimes you just have to dump the puck in, be aggressive on the forecheck and work your butt off.

That’s exactly what the Blueshirts did against the LA Kings.

They rolled their sleeves up, bunkered down in the trenches and came out fighting to overmatch what is still a physical LA team.

The Rangers backchecked well, they clogged the middle of the ice and they kept things nice and simple.

This young group is also learning how to win, slowly but surely. They appear more confident and resilient in their own zone, allowing two goals or fewer in six of their last 10 games and in seven of the last 14.

Whatever happens this year and, let’s face it, making the playoffs would be a lovely but unexpected bonus, the New York Rangers are learning invaluable lessons that will stand them in good stead for 2020-21 when expectations will begin to rise.