PITTSBURGH---If you predicted before the season that with a win against the Penguins on Tuesday the Rangers would be alone atop the NHL standings, raise your hand.
Come on, put those hands down. That’s revisionist history.
There’s a long way to go until spring, but with five days until Christmas, the Blueshirts are indeed one of the top teams in the league at 23-10-1 (47 points), just one behind the league-leading Chicago Blackhawks (22-8-4).
The Penguins, who have played two fewer games, have 45 points, and coach John Tortorella’s rising Columbus Blue Jackets have 44, with five games in hand on the Rangers.
Backed by strong goaltending from Henrik Lundqvist and Antti Raanta, the Rangers have won six of seven games, but that’s short of the torrid pace of the Penguins (7-0-2) and Blue Jackets (8-0-0), who have not lost in regulation in December.
Lundqvist, who on Monday was named the NHL’s No. 2 star of the week, just seven days after Raanta captured the second slot, is likely to get the start at PPG Paints Arena, where the Rangers won, 5-2, on Nov. 21. The Penguins, however, came to the Garden just two days later and drilled Lundqvist and the Blueshirts, 6-1.
But that was long before Lundqvist’s coach-mandated hiatus, during which Raanta started four games, winning three with two shutouts. Of the 17 NHL goaltenders who appeared in at least three games last week, Lundqvist ranked first in goals-against average (0.98) and save percentage (.967).
The Penguins will be missing two defensemen, Kris Letang and Trevor Daley, who are leading the blueliners in minutes played.
“We have to win as a team,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “That’s what we’ve done basically since the beginning. Whether you want to call it balanced scoring, balanced defending, strong goaltending --- we are built on a team basis.”
That may be the only way to continue in what appears will be an intense playoff hunt in the second half, with five high quality Metropolitan Division teams vying for three guaranteed spots. Although there is slightly more than half the season to play, a scenario in which the Metro has both wild-card teams in the East is possible.
After Tuesday, the Penguins and Rangers don’t meet again until March 31 in a game that could decide playoff seeding.
Raise your hand if you believe that’ll happen. Just kidding.
..... - Newsday