The New York Rangers have played nine games this season, all against the pretenders in the East Division. Now, they have their first game against one of the big three, facing the Washington Capitals at Madison Square Garden. The Caps are in third place in the East, one point out of first place and seven points ahead of the Rangers. With the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers, the three teams look to be the elite of the East.
It’s another game for the two sets of Ranger fans. For the optimists, it’s an opportunity to build on a streak of three games without a regulation loss. For the pessimists, the team has got to get out of a funk that has seen them win only once in regulation in their last seven games.
Which Ranger team will we see? Only the hockey gods know. What we do know is that they will be taking on one of the elite teams in the NHL who have been successful despite losing some of their best players to the COVID-19 protocol.
While the Rangers didn’t dominate the Penguins on Monday, they didn’t blow the lead once they got ahead and some of their struggling players showed signs of a revival. A win tonight will be another big step towards pushing the pessimists into the optimists column.