All-Star Weekend is always a nice break from the intensity that engulfs the regular season in the National Hockey League, but its conclusion also marks the beginning of the most crucial portion of the schedule for the teams looking to be a part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs come April. Whether they are included in the playoff picture or just outside of it, the final 35 some-odd games hold the same importance for each club in the race; therefore the intensity mentioned above is taken up a notch as the level of desperation rises dramatically.
For the New York Rangers, they are coming out of the break leading the Eastern Conference with a 31-12-4 record and 66 points. In comparison to where we've seen the Blueshirts at the end of January in past years, they are in very good position this season with just 35 games remaining on the schedule. And with the way they've performed with consistency and steadiness throughout the season, they should be well prepared for what is to come over the course of the next two and a half months leading into the playoffs. Nothing is guaranteed, but the Rangers are on a fantastic pace to have home-ice advantage when the postseason comes around.
Before then, though, there is plenty of hockey left to play and the Rangers need to do their best to maintain their focus and continue to put together strings of wins to keep atop the East. It's going to be a tough challenge with teams like the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers breathing down their neck, but the Rangers have been rampant after all this season - their success has been out of control and, at least has appeared to be, unstoppable. Despite maybe not having the most skilled roster in the NHL, this has made New York one of the more dangerous teams to play against, and one of the more intimidating as well.
Many of the players who did not take part in All-Star Weekend went home or away on vacation to rejuvenate the body and prepare for the final third of the regular season. The result was clearly positive based on the team's performance when they met for practice yesterday for the first time since last Tuesday's win over the Winnipeg Jets. Head coach John Tortorella said afterwards that he wish he could've stopped practice just 20 minutes in to "bottle" the intensity that the squad was practicing with; they were that good.
While a certain amount of sloppiness is expected when the Rangers take the ice for the first time in a week tonight against the Devils in New Jersey, they are now a well-rested team anxious to defend their throne atop the conference, and are expected to come out with an even better effort than they did in the last few games before the break. Remember, after hitting somewhat of a rough patch two weeks ago, the Rangers rebounded with two solid back-to-back wins against the Bruins and Jets before separating, so the streak will technically become three with a victory tonight.
When interviewing Dan Girardi, Marian Gaborik and Henrik Lundqvist this past weekend, I asked all three players what's made the Rangers so consistent this season. They all worded their answers differently, but the general idea behind each response was the same. "Hard work" and "effort" seemed to be the main themes, so that's what the Rangers will need to build their game around for the remainder of the season.
Coming out victorious in 31 of 47 games is quite impressive, and since their 3-3-3 start to the year, the Rangers have went about winning games with the same mentality for a while now. There's no reason for that mentality to be altered in the final 35 contests, and more importantly, if anything is going to change, the Blueshirts may want to take that mentality up a level to match and exceed that of their most threatening opponents. If they "work" harder and bring a better "effort" on a nightly basis, I think the Rangers have a solid chance of keeping the number one spot in the East.
The difficult part of this is that there's no telling what is awaiting the Rangers down the road in regard to injuries, trades or whatever other influential factors can come into play between now and then. But making their way through a shady curved path rather than a straight-up clear walkway is nothing new to these Rangers, who were forced to cope with numerous distractions in the first half of the season.
Despite that, no one and nothing has been able to put damage control on this team - they've run rampant leaving nothing behind. As someone said to me on Twitter after Marian Gaborik was named MVP of the All-Star Game on Sunday, "the year of the Rangers cannot be stopped." A continuation of that approach may carry this team further than they believed they were capable of going before the season began.
Crunch time starts now.
* By the way, #RampantRangers sounds good to me as the new rally hashtag on Twitter for the rest of the season. Tweet away!
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