The New York Rangers are on fire after a dominant weekend, going 2-0 with a combined score of 13-0, beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-0 on Saturday, and then equaled that total in the first period against the Nashville Predators on Sunday before winning 7-0.
With all the noise they’ve been making, have they put themselves in that top tier of Cup contenders along with the Boston Bruins? Tyler Yaremchuk and Steven Ellis asked that very question on Monday’s edition of "Daily Faceoff Live."
Steven Ellis: I think the Bruins are just in their own class right now, and I don’t think any team can even come close to catching that until it matters, until the playoffs when we know anything can happen.
I do like that the Rangers are starting to gel. They made a couple of big trades this year, they didn’t have to move any big assets to make that happen, so I think it was just getting those new guys in Tarasenko and Kane to see how they can really impact this team. It just seems like that was just the type of boost, even if they don’t score right away, even if they’re not playing well right away, it still sent a message that “We’re going all in, and we’re serious about this”.
The Rangers were my original pick to win the Stanley Cup, but I did eventually change it to the Carolina Hurricanes. Now I look a little silly saying the Carolina Hurricanes. Obviously, I expected a bit more, but with the way that the Rangers are rolling right now, I just don’t want to stop them.
When Shesterkin’s on his game, he’s so good, and we know Halak can get the job done too. K’Andre Miller having the weekend of his career was really fun. This is a team with so much talent that if you looked on paper heading into the season, I think more people would be picking the Rangers and Bruins. Obviously what the Bruins are doing, what Linus Ullmark’s been able to do is incredible, but you can’t count out this Rangers team.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Yeah, I mean Linus Ullmark is going to run away with the Vezina this year, but there’s still something about Igor Shesterkin being at his best that just really has me favoring the Rangers, and honestly any matchup in the Metropolitan Division. So in those first two rounds of the playoffs for them, I think they’re deeper than the New Jersey Devils, both upfront and on the blue line. You mentioned K’Andre Miller, he and Jacob Trouba look really damn good. Adam Fox is a guy who’s in the Norris conversation every single year.
It might be a hot take, but I think the Rangers deserve to be in that class with the Boston Bruins. They had some struggles earlier this season, but right now, in the present, the Bruins have lost a couple of games as of late, although they had a couple of big wins this weekend as well, so maybe those back-to-back losses from a week ago were nothing more than just a one-off. But I don’t know, I’m really starting to like the New York Rangers, and this weekend was quite something.
You can watch the full episode here…
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