Tied for the Most Points at Christmas Break

[Ducky]

Hasn’t been pretty but merry Christmas !

[siddious]

Wear the 3rd jerseys and play quick in every game the rest of the season and never lose. 

[Br4d]

Hopefully not the high point of the season.

 

Rangers have been very lucky so far.  Need to be very good the rest of the way because luck has a way of running out before June.

[jsm7302]

It's been equally as fun watching the Devils struggle.

[Valriera]

Valiquette made a great point on broadcast last night that the rangers went from worst to first in the league in rebound goals. That’s not luck it’s coaching 

[BrooksBurner]

1 hour ago, Valriera said:

Valiquette made a great point on broadcast last night that the rangers went from worst to first in the league in rebound goals. That’s not luck it’s coaching 

I found out yesterday those don’t count as much. They need to be bar down snipez

[RangersIn7]

1 hour ago, jsm7302 said:

It's been equally as fun watching the Devils struggle.

Schadenfreude

[RichieNextel305]

2 hours ago, Br4d said:

Hopefully not the high point of the season.

 

Rangers have been very lucky so far.  Need to be very good the rest of the way because luck has a way of running out before June.

They’ve won 23 of 32 games. You don’t just luck your way to a 23-8-1 record. The scary thing is that they’ve gone through a stretch here where they have struggled a bit and been up and down yet somehow, this is where they are. They work hard just about every game.

[BrooksBurner]

7 minutes ago, RichieNextel305 said:

They’ve won 23 of 32 games. You don’t just luck your way to a 23-8-1 record. The scary thing is that they’ve gone through a stretch here where they have struggled a bit and been up and down yet somehow, this is where they are. They work hard just about every game.

It’s variance. This team is fraudulent and no different than years past.

 

5v5

21st xGF%

15th xGF/60

23rd xGA/60

24th GF/60

17th GA/60

16th CF%

 

They are a borderline playoff quality team with a great PP and an inflated record. This team is out R1 with how they have played to this point.

[Br4d]

The Rangers are 8-5 since the first Bruins game with 42 GF and 44 GA.  They are 5-1 in 1 goal games over that span.  That's the mark of a team that is getting very lucky over a significant span of time.

 

Not sure what needs to change but if they score 42 goals and allow 44 over the next 13 games they're just as likely to be 1-5 in 1 goal games as 5-1 over that span and the record is very likely to no longer be 1st in the conference, maybe not even 1st in the division.

[Ozzy]

Lots of things to clean up, but overall they're doing a lot better than I originally expected.   There's been a lot more good than bad;  some old bad habits still show, like the east/west shit getting a little out of hand, and also failing to get pucks deep consistently.

 

We still have some issues with turnovers and ability to clear the zone.

 

But these are things that I'm confident Laviolette will teach and cover before the playoffs.  It's a process; a little bit at a time, and we'll get there.

 

I'm pretty cool with where we're going, and think we're fortunate to be where we are right now.

[Br4d]

The thing that worries me is that the flaws we are seeing right now are vet player flaws.  They're the same things we saw the last couple of seasons under GG.

 

You can take the boy out of the schoolyard as Laviolette seemed to do the first 20 games but you can't necessarily take the schoolyard out of the boy.

Edited December 24, 2023 by Br4d

[Long live the King]

4 minutes ago, Br4d said:

The Rangers are 8-5 since the first Bruins game with 42 GF and 44 GA.  They are 5-1 in 1 goal games over that span.  That's the mark of a team that is getting very lucky over a significant span of time.

 

Not sure what needs to change but if they score 42 goals and allow 44 over the next 13 games they're just as likely to be 1-5 in 1 goal games as 5-1 over that span and the record is very likely to no longer be 1st in the conference, maybe not even 1st in the division.

 

They gave up half of those 44 goals in 4 games.  Outside of those 4 bad games they have 36 GF and 22 GA.

[Keirik]

Looks line someone forgot about the left coast games 

[BrooksBurner]

15 minutes ago, Long live the King said:

 

They gave up half of those 44 goals in 4 games.  Outside of those 4 bad games they have 36 GF and 22 GA.

And if instead of cherry picking the bad games out, and you cherry pick the good games out and take away the 5-1 Anaheim win and 5-2 Toronto win, it’s 32 GF and 41 GA.

[Br4d]

The point is that the Rangers have been just as lucky as they have been good and that's why they stand where they stand right now.

 

Average out the luck and we're back to where we were in the two GG years.

[siddious]

23 minutes ago, Long live the King said:

 

They gave up half of those 44 goals in 4 games.  Outside of those 4 bad games they have 36 GF and 22 GA.

Yea all that stat says is they had a bad few goal against games.

 

laviolette pulling the goalie with 45 minutes left in the game for the extra goal a few times hasn’t helped either 

[Valriera]

There’s a reason they play the games and so far we are very good at winning all types of games except those where we’re giving up tons of chances in the slot. Call it whatever you like. 

[Br4d]

As an example: last season at the 32 game mark we had scored 102 goals and allowed 88 for a +14 differential.  For that we were 17-10-5 for 39 points.  Our record in 1 goal games was 5-4-5, which is about as average as you can get, maybe a bit unlucky by a couple of games.

 

This season at the 32 game mark we have scored 108 and allowed 89 for a +19 differential.  For that we are 23-8-1 for 47 points.  Our record in 1 goal games is 11-1-1 which is shoot the moon lucky.  

 

Last season it turned out we were a bit better than the record showed at this point and the results were sustainable.

 

This season the odds say that we will be worse than we've been in the first 32 and it's unclear what the next 50 games holds other than we better be better than we've been the last 13.

[Cr00zng]

I am not certain what this team would need to do for quieting the doom-sayers? After 32 games, they have the best winning percentage in the league and are 1st, or 2nd depending on your point of you. Merry Xmas to us....

 

Had they been lucky to get this record in 32 games, or they just this good? I prefer to believe the latter one, knowing that there are still 50 regular season games to play. I agree with @Ozzy comments earlier:

 

35 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

But these are things that I'm confident Laviolette will teach and cover before the playoffs.  It's a process; a little bit at a time, and we'll get there.

 

Even if I disagree with that "we're fortunate to be where we are right now".

 

Like most beat-writers, Greg Wyshynski at ESPN did not predict the success of the Rangers this year. Of course he had to reach out to the statistic to prove, that this is the same Rangers as last year (pretty much an extended version of Brooks earlier posting):

 

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/39114670/nhl-new-york-rangers-playoffs-standings-stats-cup-contender

 

There's only one stats that are important and that is the number of points collected during the season, period. Are there issues with this team? Of course, just like any other teams in the NHL. It's a long season and Lavy will clean up what needs to be cleaned up and get them ready for the playoff. It's a process that progressing well. Trust the process, right @Ozzie ?

[Br4d]

I trust Laviolette however I think the Rangers need to make some moves to sustain their success at this point.

 

It's not smoke and mirrors but it is definitely lucky so far and by lucky I mean extremely lucky.

[BrooksBurner]

10 minutes ago, Br4d said:

I trust Laviolette however I think the Rangers need to make some moves to sustain their success at this point.

 

It's not smoke and mirrors but it is definitely lucky so far and by lucky I mean extremely lucky.

I trust Laviolette to be preaching a quality message, but the coach doesn’t wear the skates on gameday and I don’t trust enough in the ones who do. They will all get more time and patience because that’s what you do with a new coach. That’s what’s fair. But seeing is believing. I haven’t seen it yet.

[BrooksBurner]

20 minutes ago, Br4d said:

As an example: last season at the 32 game mark we had scored 102 goals and allowed 88 for a +14 differential.  For that we were 17-10-5 for 39 points.  Our record in 1 goal games was 5-4-5, which is about as average as you can get, maybe a bit unlucky by a couple of games.

 

This season at the 32 game mark we have scored 108 and allowed 89 for a +19 differential.  For that we are 23-8-1 for 47 points.  Our record in 1 goal games is 11-1-1 which is shoot the moon lucky.  

 

Last season it turned out we were a bit better than the record showed at this point and the results were sustainable.

 

This season the odds say that we will be worse than we've been in the first 32 and it's unclear what the next 50 games holds other than we better be better than we've been the last 13.

Great comparative analysis. I was going to do this later, but now I don’t have to.

[Pete]

1 hour ago, Br4d said:

As an example: last season at the 32 game mark we had scored 102 goals and allowed 88 for a +14 differential.  For that we were 17-10-5 for 39 points.  Our record in 1 goal games was 5-4-5, which is about as average as you can get, maybe a bit unlucky by a couple of games.

 

This season at the 32 game mark we have scored 108 and allowed 89 for a +19 differential.  For that we are 23-8-1 for 47 points.  Our record in 1 goal games is 11-1-1 which is shoot the moon lucky.  

 

Last season it turned out we were a bit better than the record showed at this point and the results were sustainable.

 

This season the odds say that we will be worse than we've been in the first 32 and it's unclear what the next 50 games holds other than we better be better than we've been the last 13.

Your analysis is flawed. You're not taking into account the key injuries the Rangers have had this year versus last year. They lost their number two center, rotating top line right wing, number one defenseman and number one goalie for stretches.

 

They are performing much better as a team this season, and anybody who's watching and understands knows this. 

 

This isn't to say there is no room for improvement, but if anyone can't acknowledge the change from this year to last year it's because they're either willfully ignorant or not paying attention. 

Edited December 24, 2023 by Pete

[Scott]

Agreed some things are different for sure, mostly to me they're a team not just a bunch of individuals, full credit to Lavy for that.

 

But Pete you really think Chytil is a number two center on a serious cup contender? I don't think so he can't even carry Tro's jock at this point in his career. I don't see how he can be counted on for much of anything going forward until he proves it.  I think the hope was always that Chytil grew into the 2 center and except for a 5 game heater in the playoffs there's been no sign of it.

 

Lost their #1 goalie? the backup lost for the first time in regulation in what 11 games just two games ago.  Rotating top line right wing, your just moving around deck chairs, Kakko is a JAG or a hair above at this stage in his career. He like Wheeler shouldn't be near anybody's top line based on play. Right now when he returns he probably sends Brodzinski packing?

 

They still struggle in many of the same areas. That's unfortunate. Racking up points in the regular season is great but if I remember right the team with the most regular season point usually don't take the cup. In response to the thought that we bitch nd the team has the most points in the league.

 

Do I give credit to Lavy for being way better than GG, YES. Do I still think there's big issues (unless regular season champs is the ultimate goal) YES. Final grades don't get published until the spring.