The New York Rangers exceeded expectations over the first 10 games of the season, picking up 14 points out of 20 with a 6-2-2 record. The rest of the season, we will break the campaign down into 10-game segments. We will predict their record and revisit those predictions after the 10 games have been played.
We didn’t project the results for the first 10 games and to be honest, there’s no way we could have foreseen the positive results. Considering that the Rangers played seven of their first 10 games on the road, a realistic projection would have been for the team to come out of it with 10 points at best instead of the 14 they ended up with. Of course, that’s before we saw Igor Shesterkin in action.
The key question is whether they can keep up their winning ways. They have won games that they should have lost and it will be a challenge to keep that up.
The next 10 games
The Rangers continue their road-heavy schedule with six of the next 10 games away from Madison Square Garden. Not only that, four of the six are against teams that have established themselves among the elite in the NHL this season.
They open the segment with two games on the road against two of the hottest teams in the league. Between them, Edmonton and Calgary have lost only two of 17 games in regulation and have taken 28 of a possible 34 points. Starting this segment against those team is going to be an uphill climb from puck drop.
It doesn’t get any better after that when they return home to face the Florida Panthers. The Blueshirts will have to contend with the dreaded first home game after a road trip syndrome against the Atlantic Division leading Panthers who after nine games have yet to lose in regulation (8-01-).
Arguably, the schedule gets easier after that as the Rangers travel to Columbus, return home for games against the Devils and Canadiens before another trip to Canada to play the Maple Leafs and Senators. They return to play the Eichel-less Sabres and finish the segment on Thanksgiving Eve at the brand new UBS Arena. The only saving grace about that game is it won’t be the Isles’ first game in their new home, it will be their third.
Let’s note one of the truly odd aspects of the Rangers’ schedule. Although there are only seven teams based in Canada in the NHL (22%), the Rangers play 10 of their first 18 games (56%) against teams from north of the border with eight of them on the road. In fact, the Rangers have only one more game in Canada after November 20, when they go to Winnipeg on March 6. They play Canadian teams seven times over the last five months of the season compared to 10 games in the first five weeks. Weird.
Now, time for some projections.