RANGERS: 28-11-4
The current pride and joy of New York Sports.
The first place Blueshirts continue to excel despite every metric in the books telling them they won’t. Last Wednesday night, a battle-tested Toronto team entered MSG for not only an original six bout but also a battle between the top two Vezina candidates at the time in Igor Shesterkin and Jack Campbell. Well rested after their season-long road trip, with four out of the five games out West, New York looked flat and quickly fell behind 2-0, en route to a 3-1 first period deficit. But in the second, Ryan Reaves scored his second of the game for his “Breakout moment” and first tallies as a Ranger, before Adam Fox put one into even the game at three after two. The third period began with both top goalies making key saves, but it ultimately the Rangers proving they reigned superior and ran away with the contest off of goals by Ryan Strome, Chris Kreider, and an empty net one by Adam Fox. Meanwhile, Igor Shesterkin stopped 27/27 after his worst period of the season for a total of 35 saves to keep New York in it, as well as his lead for the Vezina trophy.
Two days later, the Rangers went up against their nemesis and division rivals in the Carolina Hurricanes in a baggie for first place in the Metro out in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Canes were notably “Amped up” for the last month for this game, considering they possess four critical former Rangers in Toney Deangelo, Brady Skjei, Jesper Fast, and Derek Stepan. Well, wouldn’t you know it, it was those guys who propelled the hosts to victory. The Rangers were on their toes from the rip. There was only so much Alexander Georgiev could do in net to stop the storm surge, as Tony D had a goal and two assists, Sebastian Aho replicates his linemates performance, and Andrei Svechnikov torched the Rangers again after scoring a hat trick in the Canes sweep of the Blueshirts in the 2020 play-in round, with two assists. Jesper Fast also had a goal in this game, as the Rangers could seemingly never find their footing until the start of the third period when they were already trailing 5-1.
It didn’t aid the mood when the team's postgame flight was delayed due to snow and didn’t make it to their beds until 4:45 AM the following day with a finite amount of time to prepare for their second half of a back-back against the hapless Arizona Coyotes.
Once again, the Rangers came out flat and, after 30 minutes, trailed 3-1 with the Yotes getting a power play, bringing the garden crowd to the level of silence that felt akin to the anechoic chamber knowingly the quietest place on earth. This deficit felt ultra-poultry considering the previous night's defeat, and the laughingstock of hockey was maltreating them. The only thing keeping the game at the point from a potential woeful 7-1 scoreline was the stellar play of goaltender Igor Shesterkin who made 26 saves on the evening.
But like the sudden flash of a light bulb, they woke up.
Chris Kreider scored a short-handed goal, and it was a sign of things to come, for he would score another one minutes later. But by that point, Julien Gauthier and Artemi Panarin had found the back of the twine to contribute to the four-goal onslaught in just 7 minutes and 12 seconds, which gave the Rangers a 5-3 lead headed into the third period. Jacob “Troubador” Trouba carried over the momentum and blasted one into the goal before Kreider roofed the puck home minutes later to complete the hat trick and give him a career-high 29 goals on the season. The victory coupled with the Hurricanes 7-4 stinker in Jersey against tie Devils handed the Rangers sole
possession of the top spot in the Metropolitan division, which they would hang onto on Monday night when they edged the Kings in a shootout 3-2, which included CK20 recording his league-leading 30th goal of the season, Barclay Goodrow sending it past regulation time with a late goal, Adam Fox netting the shootout winner on his first career attempt, and Shesty backstopping the team in a game they were outshot once again in, making 33 saves, in addition to four of 6 in the skills competition.
This week, the 26-year-old goaltender who’s riding a seven-game win streak and is 20-4-2 on the year with a 2.06GAA( second in the NHL) and .937 save percentage(First in the NHL by a mile as of this writing) was officially(Obviously) announced as the Vezina Trophy leader by NHL.com. Gerard Gallant and Adam Fox were told as candidates thus far for the Jack Adams(Coach of the year) and Norris Trophy(Leagues best defenseman, which Fox won last year), respectively.
The Blueshirts are back in action Thursday on the road against the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are coming off a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of the Flames, while also being outshot 62-23.
Alexander Georgiev will get the start in goal tonight. At the same time, #31 will work between the pipes on #30’s night, when the organization sends legend Henrik Lundqvist's storied number to the rafters before their game against the Minnesota Wild(25-10-3) at MSG.
Hank spent all 15 years of his career with New York(2006-2020) and set the franchise bar in wins (459), shutouts(64), save percentage(.918). Playoff wins(61), and even though he never won a cup, he took the torch that was given up by 1994 cup winner Mike Richter in 2006, and ran with it, and Igor Shesterkin will officially receive it Friday night when he leads the current team on the ice after what's sure to be an emotional ceremony for all of Rangerstown.
With #31 on his back and #30 watching from above the lights and in the stands, you couldn't have scripted it any better. Now, all they have to do is follow that dream and keep on winning, despite the wild hockey analytics community saying they won't.
KNICKS: 22-26
It’s expected at this point that when it matters, this team will fall flat on its face, and that’s what’s been happening the last five times the Knicks have taken the court.
After falling to the Hornets97-87) and Timberwolves(112-110) back to back games last week, the Knicks proved no match against the undermanned Pelicans losing 102-91 at MSG, before blowing an opportunity on Wednesday to defeat a Cavs team their chasing in the East when Julius Randle missed a game-winning trey in the 95-93 loss. Thought it couldn’t get worse? It did, as on National TV Wednesday night, the Knicks were humbled by the top-seeded Miami Heat(31-17) 110-96 in South Beach. If you’d ask me, it’s time to bench the starters and start the benchwarmers because they’re the only reason why this team makes scores look respectable.
NETS: 29-19
The only thing that will make this fanbase satisfied is a title. But lately, this team has looked anything but that. After scrapping off wins against the Spurs (117-102) and Wizards(119-118) on the road, Brooklyn dropped decisions to the Timberwolves(136-125) in Minnesota, where they allowed 30+ points each stanza and were outclassed in defeats at the hands of the Lebron-led Lakers 106-96, and although they gave it, they're all against the sixth-seeded Nuggets without the big three last night, came up on the wrong side of the 124-118 hyphen. These defeats have dropped Brooklyn to fourth in the top-heavy East, behind Miami, Chicago(30-17), and Cleveland(30-19).
When Brooklyn was defeated by the Cavs last week, I went on social media and said, “ their seeding is in peril,” and now we’re seeing it happen right in front of our eyes. To make matters worse, the Nets are only leading the reigning champion Bucks(30-20) by.04 percentage points in the standings and slightly have a 2.5 game advantage over the sixth-seeded 76ers.
This team needs to get healthy and fast.
GIANTS: Hired Joe Sochen as GM.
We won’t honestly know what he’s all about until he picks the franchise’s next head coach, but here’s a guy that knows success when he sees it after being the assistant GM in Buffalo and helping their rise to playoff contenders while also being a young, knowledgeable and vibrant voice at just 42 years of age. He’s a guy that can help bring over someone that can start from the ground up, and this team needs just that. Welcome to the Giants, Joe!
ISLANDERS: 15-14-6
Since their season effectively restarted, the Isles have gone 5-2. But that stat can be misleading since their five victories have come against the league’s basement, three of which have come against the Flyers, who are mired in a 13 game losing streak. The two losses have come against quality teams in the Capitals(2-0) and Maple Leafs(3-1), where the Islanders were thoroughly outplayed. Thursday's matchup against the middling LA Kings(21-16-6) will provide another test to a team hungry to prove they belong in the Wild Card race.
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