Fifty games are in the books. The holiday break, the âbyeâ week, and the All-Star Break have all come and gone. And now it gets real for the Rangers. Thirty-two games remain, with 19 of them on the road. So how do they react? How do they find the consistency they will need to get […]
The Rangers get a chance to catch their collective breath after a much-needed, and certainly imperfect win in San Jose salvaged an otherwise winless four-game road trip. That is, the Rangers other than Henrik Lundqvist, who has been overworked and will now face the additional stress of a three-on-three all-star tournament this weekend — and […]
I was talking with Rick Nash last week about the Rangersâ four-game Western road trip. We discussed how, very often, this type of trek can be just what a team needs – to be together for a long stretch with nothing on the agenda but team-bonding and hockey. No distractions, no outside errands or tasks. […]
Kevin Shattenkirk has made no secret of the pressure heâs placed on his own shoulders, being a New Rochelle kid living out his dream of playing for the Rangers. On Friday, Shattenkirk admitted that his unwillingness to âdisappointâ people â family, friends, fans, teammates and himself included â in his first season in New York, […]
We saw Henrik Lundqvist, during the âRoad to the Winter Classicâ and just before the Christmas break, telling his Rangers teammates that they should know they havenât been good enough and asking if they all agree. We saw Lundqvist Saturday, going down the bench and barking at his teammates after backup goalie Ondrej Pavelec was pulled […]
With less than half a season remaining, the NHLâs Metropolitan Division will be a slugfest among eight teams for what will almost certainly be five playoff berths. The automatic bids will go to the division’s top-3 teams and the two Eastern Conference Wild Card berths will likely come out of the Metropolitan Division. This is […]
So the Rangers are in their “bye” week, which is not quite a week â five days without a game, four and a half without a practice â and not actually a bye. But somebody at the NFL decided that a week off would be called a “bye” and somebody at the NHL decided to […]
I always think the NHLâs outdoor games canât continue to live up to the hype, and they usually do. I always think the league might be oversaturating us with these events, and Iâm always wrong. Those hardy people who sit through the elements get their moneyâs worth out of the game and the experience … […]
Chris Kreider is one of many athletes who are fond of saying ânext man upâ when an injury strikes. Now the ânext man upâ will be replacing Kreider for an indefinite period of time. The Rangersâ 26-year-old left winger was diagnosed with a blood clot in his right arm after he left Wednesdayâs 1-0 shootout […]
The question isnât so much whether or not Henrik Lundqvist can handle the heavy burden his teammates have placed on his shoulders; because maybe he can. No, the question is whether he should have to face that kind of pressure and whether the Rangers can figure a way to take some of it off of […]