What's the best part of the NHL's 48-game schedule? When a team loses, it often gets a chance to redeem itself the next night. Defeats and victories do not linger. In nine days, the Rangers have played five games, and we know they won't be losing all 48 games.
They needed until overtime of the third game of the season, but the Rangers finally earned their first victory of the year with a 4-3 win over Boston on Wednesday. After a two rusty games out of the gate, the Rangers have won two of three, relying heavily on their stars to do so. Marian Gaborik, Rick Nash and Brad Richards all play on the top line, at least for now. In Saturday's 5-2 win over Toronto, Coach John Tortorella made sure defensemen Marc Staal and Michael Del Zotto joined that combination as much as possible. The result? A plus-4 outing for the fivesome.
The Bad: Worries remain despite the two wins. No one thinks the Maple Leafs will be any good, so the result against them, which took much longer to secure than necessary given the Rangers' dominance, hardly inspires confidence. The Rangers are 0-2 in the second games of back-to-backs, including Thursday's lackluster loss in Philadelphia. Tortorella-coached teams are known for their conditioning and physical play, but the Rangers have not appeared to have such an advantage so far this season.
As a result, the Rangers enter this week in fourth place in their division. They have four points, just like the Philadelphia Flyers, who have played one more game.
On Saturday, the Rangers agreed to a contract with Jason Arnott, a former Devil and a member of the exclusive club of Stanley Cup-clinching goal-scorers. Unfortunately for Arnott, he failed a physical, so he won't be the Rangers' missing piece.
[Obligatory paragraph about how poorly the Rangers' power play has performed. It's 2-for-22. That's hardly news because it always stinks.]
The Embarrassing (well, other than the power play): Off the ice, the Rangers' official fan blog published a "girl's guide" to watching hockey. For obvious reasons, that did not go over well, and the article was quickly pulled. Why would women need a special hockey primer? On the Internet, there are several general rules that, if broken, create situations that never ends well—nothing good comes of jokingly comparing mundane experiences to the Holocaust. And if "Don't write an article pandering to women" isn't on that list, it should be added immediately.
The Pretty, Pretty Good: Should Rangers fans really feel so gloomy about the start to this season? The Rangers are only one game under .500, and many figured they would get off to a slow start given their style of play. Gaborik leads the team with eight points and five goals (one being an empty-netter in Saturday's win), and he bagged a hat trick against the Bruins. His shoulder, surgically repaired in the offseason, does not appear to be posing any problems. Nash has meshed nicely with his linemates and figures to be a spark, even if he has only one goal and hasn't scored in three games. He has displayed his playmaking abilities with several near-misses. Unheralded free-agent signing Tom Pyatt has two goals in his five games. And goalie Henrik Lundqvist wasted no time in starting his 2013 list of great saves.
What's next? The Rangers can avenge two of their losses if they beat the Flyers (Tuesday) or Penguins (Thursday) at home. Then they play Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes' favorite team, the Lighting, on Saturday.
