New York Rangers: Three Treats of 2023-24 Season So Far
Toasty Breadman
You have to start with how hot the breadman is. Artemi Panarin has started the season like a man on a mission. Whether it’s the fact all his hair is gone and he’s not carrying the extra weight, or the man went away to work on whatever was wrong during the summer, the Rangers star winger is on absolute fire right now. Determined to make amends for how his season ended, the Russian winger has been superb for the Blueshirts.
With five goals and ten assists for 15 points in nine games, Panarin has started the season on a heater. A nine-game point streak for the Breadman has the Rangers’ top scorer sitting just three points back of Jack Hughes at the top of the NHL point-scoring race. With the Rangers dynamo putting up points like it is nobody’s business, there can be a large portion of the fanbase relaxing after some thought he would regress.
Panarin’s play with Filip Chytil and Alexis Lafreniere has been unbelievable. Some have lovingly dubbed it the “French Toast” line because of how hot the Breadman has been with the Quebecois winger on the other side of the ice. It’s been a strong line for the Blueshirts, but Panarin has not been finding the bulk of his success here. This line has been good but hasn’t produced as well as Panarin’s numbers indicate.
Eight of his 15 points have come on the powerplay. Some people would try to put an asterisk on his production totals knowing this, so I will leave it up to you if you want to do that. However, I see many people do not care what the situation in the game is when Panarin is putting up points. They want him to produce like the lite player we all know he can be.
If you want to talk about the surprise of the young Rangers season, look no further than new backup netminder Jonathan Quick. With three Stanley Cup Championships and a Conn Smythe in his locker, the 37-year-old netminder is not the goaltender he was a decade ago when he was winning the Stanley Cup with the Los Angeles Kings and decided to come to his boyhood club for another shot at winning the cup.
Quick has only played in three games, starting two. However, he has a spectacular .982 save percentage, a 0.41 goals-against average, and a shutout over the Edmonton Oilers. That is unsustainable if we’re being honest, but the fact Quick has achieved such heights as a boyhood Ranger fan for the team on Broadway is a fantastic story.
Quick will have an important part to play on this Rangers roster down the stretch. A former Conn Smythe winner and three-time Stanley Cup Champion netminder will not only need to try and give Igor Shesterkin some time off. Still, they can also use his experience of winning the cup around guys like Drew Doughty, Brad Richards, Mark Stone, and a host of other talented players to help a young Rangers team get over hurdles.
If Quick finds a way to keep his .982 save percentage, he will be the starting goalie for the Rangers. Shesterkin is the best goalie in the world, but if Quick decides, “okay, nothing is going in anymore,” well, how do you take the crease away from him? You don’t. That would be a fantastic problem, but Quick needs to prove he can sustain his play at a level even close to this.
10/10 Road Trip
As the Rangers went west, they were 2-2 coming off the back of a pounding at home against the Nashville Predators. There were questions about a lot of the team in general, but there was fear Peter Laviolette would not be able to fix the roster, and the Rangers would find a way to regress from their 107-point season last year. Fans were generally low on the Blueshirts leaving the Garden.
As the old adage goes, “Time heals all wounds.”
New York won all five games on the road trip. Walking into the darkened Climate Pledge Arena and holding the Kraken to just one goal as Jonathan Quick continued to show his sensational side in Seattle. It was a game in which the road team never felt like they were in trouble. It was a simple two points to get back above .500 and restore some of the faith in the organization; things were getting better.
From there, the Rangers made the trip to Calgary. After Blake Coleman put the Rangers behind, an explosion of offense in the second period got the Blueshirts out in front in this game, and they never looked back, taking the two points from the Saddledome. It wasn’t a pretty game, but a win is a win, and they needed it. Adding to the problems in Calgary, the Rangers did what they wanted to do.
Then, the Rangers moved south to Edmonton. An explosive Oilers offense was silenced by the Rangers defensive structure and Jonathan Quick. What a road trip it was for both the player and the team. Edmonton was in turmoil itself, and the Rangers didn’t do the nice thing for their opponents and offer to be the cure. They pleased their fanbase by being ruthless against their opponents.
Vancouver was the next destination as the Rangers were on the Pacific coast of Canada. A special teams affair saw the red-hot New York powerplay score multiple times and even grab a short-handed goal as they ran away from Vancouver with an overtime win. It was a game that the Rangers had to show heart and determination to change the way they were set up, but the Blueshirts found a way.
Finally, the game in Winnipeg. Grabbing the lead early and giving it up before the end of the first, finding another way to fight back in the third period, and grabbing the overtime winner with less than a minute left in the 3-on-3 overtime, despite killing off a 4-on-3 powerplay and returning home as the hottest team in the NHL off of a perfect five-game road trip for the first time in franchise history. Yeah, that’s the sweetest treat of the season so far.