Br4d

Both goals against today so far were unlucky. That said, if the Bread Line is not going strong in the playoffs we're 2 rounds tops and out.

The 'Yotes were moving no matter what. The only question was when they would move. Seriously.

Time for Laf to step up. Rangers aren't winning a cup this season unless he really shines in the playoffs and today is a good first step.

The purpose of the salary cap is to make sure that contending teams have similar resources available to compete for a cup. What Vegas is doing is a total finger in the eye of the NHL. If a guy is not healthy enough to skate during the regular season he should be banned from the playoffs.

They're going to put him in the mix because they can't afford to go into the playoffs with only one line firing at 5v5.

Everything is going to change once the NHL gets the chance to change the rule. The question is whether this is a CBA issue?

Unless the Rangers have a few games where they're not skating with authority. If that happens Rempe will get a start to wake them up.

The last two games are easy to call. The Bread Line didn't score and nobody stepped up in their absence. This is going to be another first round loss if the Rangers can't produce at 5v5 when the Bread Line gets shut down.

Rangers playmakers are going to be RW's in a few years, this assuming Laf stays there.

Rangers have too many moving pieces now as it is. I think adding Chytil and Wheeler to the mix would just be confusing for the players in the bottom half trying to work it out. Win the next two and get back on track. This isn't going to end well if the Rangers slump out at the end of the season.

I don't think I would take anybody in that 12 out for Rempe right now. Brodzinski is the obvious choice but he has been productive enough not to sit at this point.

It's definitely complicated. I have not run the 5v5 numbers or done an analysis of the individual game results so I'm not going to suggest that they're definitive markers of given record when luck is factored out. However, last season the Rangers were good at 5v5 vs the non-playoff teams and not so good against the playoff teams. I also haven't done '21-'22 so I do not know if there is a pattern there or not. I do know that Mika Zibanejad's peak year last year (second peak after the first Covid season) wasn't as good as it looked on the surface. This year may be better than it looks on the surface but it is also a step down from last season and from his early peak in '19-'20. One thing that has occurred to me is that both GG and Laviolette have relied on the top 6 and the top 2 defensive pairs late in games, with them seeing more ice time in tight games. Panarin and Fox in particular seem to get odd shifts in the 3rd period that tilt the ice a bit.

I don't know where the term "bad" comes from. Right now the Rangers are a good team that is getting very lucky and has the best record in the NHL as a result.

Smaller divisions likely means more games against division opponents and a simpler bracket in the playoffs.

Any arena that has to have an ice surface layer implemented under a primary use layer for the first year or two. They'll get it right eventually but it's going to be a substandard surface until they figure out the quirks of the venue.

Not looking forward to the Rangers playing on experimental ice at the Delta Center for a couple of seasons. The NHL's #1 consideration for moves and expansions should be that a state of the art hockey arena is available at the new location. Arizona is moving at least partly because this was not a consideration when the 'Yotes got the franchise.

Mika, Kreider, Panarin, Trocheck, Lafreniere and Fox. If those guys are on in the playoffs, and I mean all of them, then we have a good shot at a cup. If a few of them go missing, like last year, we have no shot at all.

Step-sister. There's a difference...

The loser point is a participation trophy. Make the NHL great again!

Why is it that all the Isles look like they're in a lineup in their photos?

Ugh, the dreaded 3 goal /lead/deficit...

The Isles are skating hard. They're desperate. Rangers are doing fine. We'll reel them in the 2nd or 3rd like we often do.

They could get the luck. It's been working all season: play hard, get a boost in either the 2nd or the 3rd, luck or however you want to define it, win the game. There's no reason that can't work in the playoffs. They're going to have to play a team of destiny in there somewhere (my vote being Vancouver) and they're going to have to work very hard and get very lucky to beat that team.

One goal wins vs losses. Games won when the other team scores first. Third period comebacks. The numbers say the Rangers have been one of the luckiest teams in Rangers history.

The Rangers have gotten a tremendous amount of puck luck this year. They're also the best team going into the playoffs. Both things can be true.