The New York Rangers completed six games in nine days only to see their schedule this past week not get any easier. While the spacing of the games was better, the opponents and what remained at stake were no lighter.
Contests against the Winnipeg Jets, fighting for the top spot in the Central Division, the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers, at the top of the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference, were on the docket.
New York went 2-1 this past week. After falling 4-2 to the Jets on home ice, the Blueshirts defeated the Bruins 5-2 on the road. They closed out the three games in five days with a 4-3 come-from-behind shootout win over the Panthers. With the two victories, the Rangers sit one point north of the Carolina Hurricanes, who have been red-hot since the trade deadline. There are 11 games remaining for the Rangers and 10 games remaining for the Hurricanes.
What did we learn this past week about the New York Rangers?
Outside of the obvious, the New York Rangers are a hard team to put away. Just ask the Florida Panthers. They felt it firsthand Saturday night inside Madison Square Garden. As mentioned, the Rangers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win 4-3 in a shootout over the Panthers. And once again, it was the Artemi Panarin show.
Panarin shows no signs of slowing down and may be getting even better. After getting shut out Monday, the Bread Man delivered five goals in the last two contests. Panarin is up to a career-high 43 tallies and 56 assists, just one point shy of his first 100-point season.
Each time the Rangers needed a big play, the Panarin-Vincent Trocheck (up to 69 points in 71 games)-Alexis Lafreniere (new career-high in points at 45) line found a way to produce. Panarin should finish in the four-to-six range in the Hart Trophy race. However, if one views who is the most valuable to his team, finding anyone more valuable player than Panarin is hard.
But he should be in the top three alongside Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov at the end of the year.
Adam Fox is a Stud on Defense for the Rangers
Adam Fox seems to get better each year. Last year, he struggled defensively. This season, Fox has been better in his own zone, even without Ryan Lindgren, who remained sidelined with a lower-body injury. Fox has points in seven straight games. Over that stretch, Fox has lit the lamp four times, setting a career-high in goals with 14 with 11 games remaining.
With 61 points in 61 games, Fox likely won’t top the 74 points he scored two seasons ago but don’t rule it out. Add in 102 blocked shots, a plus-18 rating, 23+ minutes of ice time nightly and 28 points on the man advantage, and you have a complete blueliner.
Quick Continues To Silence His Doubters
Jonathan Quick continues to come up big when needed. With the ‘Canes narrowing the division gap and a rough road game in Boston on the docket, Quick stepped up again. He was huge in the first period, keeping the Rangers in the game until the defense found their sea legs and shut down the B’s attack.
With the win, Quick now has 391 for his career, tying him with Ryan Miller for the most ever by an American-born goalie and also for 15th all-time in NHL history. The Rangers don’t have another back-to-back situation this season, but they have Arizona and Ottawa on the schedule. This will afford Quick at least two chances to break the tie.
This week, the Rangers welcome the Philadelphia Flyers, who are third in the Metro, on Tuesday. The team then heads out for its last true road trip, facing the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday and the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday to close out the month.
New York plays six of its right April games at home, with one of the “road” games at UBS Arena in Elmont, NY.
More must-reads: