The Rangers are for real & their 5-2 win over the Bruins proves it

Notes on the game

The Rangers have a scintillating 8-3-2 road record.   This is nothing new for the Blueshirts.  Twice in the last seven seasons the Rangers have won over 27 games on the road.

The last time the Rangers had 29 points after 20 games was in 2016-17.  The fact that they’ve done it while playing 65% of their games on the road is remarkable.

By beating Boston, they continue with the record of losing only to teams that are ahead of them in the standings (currently).

The Blueshirts have won seven of their last eight games and have gotten points in 11 of their last 13 games.

The Rangers have opened a seven point advantage over the next two teamd in the Metropolitan Division standings.   Pittsburgh has 22 points in 19 games while Columbus has 22 points in 27 games.

The Rangers finally won a Thanksgiving Showdown game in Boston and are now 3-3-1 in the seven games they have played, all on the road.

The Rangers have gone into the third period of a game tied seven times and have yet to lose in regulation going 6-0-1.   Going into the third period tied or with the lead, their record is 12-0-3.

Adam Fox notched two assists and now has 21 points, most for a defenseman and three ahead of Roman Josi and John Carlson. His 17 assists are seventh in the NHL among all skaters.

Artemi Panarin  had a goal and assist and remains tied with Fox for the team lead in points with 21.  He is 12th overall in the league in scoring (tied with Fox)

Dryden Hunt had a goal and an assist, the third multi-point game of his career and his first since March 2019.  His goal was right into the goal camera and broke it.<

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This was Julien Gauthier’s second career two-assist game, the first was against New Jersey last season. He has started nine straight games, has a goal and three assists and is earning the right to stay in the lineup.

Alexis Lafrenière scored his fifth goal of the second to tie Panarin and Rooney for second place on the Rangers.

The Rangers killed 10 seconds of a 5v3 disadvantage, the first time they have been down two men this season.  They killed all three Bruins penalties and have moved in 19th place overall with an 80.7% success rate.

The misconduct penalty to Artemi Panarin was the first 10-minute misconduct for any Ranger.  No word as to why he threw his glove at Brad Marchand.

Just you watch.  The league will levy a bigger fine on Panarin than what they gave to Tom Wilson.

Adam Fox led all skaters, playing 26:25. Jacob Trouba was second with 23:26.   Meanwhile, Gallant is rolling all four lines with no forward playing 20 minutes.

Igor Shesterkin had another special game, stopping 34 of 36 shots including a Taylor Hall breakaway.   He has faced over 30 shots in 12 of his 15 starts.  He is now tied for the league lead in wins with 11, is fifth in Sv% and sixth in GAA among goalies who have played in 12 games or more.

Chris Kreider was the first Ranger to try to score a “lacrosse goal” in the second period when he hit the crossbar and goalie Jeremy Swayman’s helmet.

The Blueshirts thought he had scored and it was reviewed, but never crossed the goal line.

Ryan Strome extended his point scoring streak to eight games, but Kaapo Kakko was stopped at five games.

Charlie McAvoy could have seriously injured Kevin Rooney with a blatant trip in the last minute. Of course, Barclay Goodrow was given a penalty to even it up.  Just like every other blatant foul against the Rangers, there won’t be any consequences.

Speaking of McAvoy, ABC was hyping the Adam Fox-McAvoy rivalry and matchup.  MacAvoy had no points, three shots, two hits and two blocks. Fox had two assists, five blocks and three takeaways.  Game, set, match…Fox.