Rangers Power Their Way to Playoffs

Start spreading the news! The New York Rangers are playoff-bound, with their 5-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators placing them in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. For the Rangers, this is their second playoff appearance in three seasons, and it comes eight years after their amazing run to the Stanley Cup Final back in 2014. That year was the first of back-to-back years that saw the Rangers reach the Final Four, but since then, the Rangers won only one playoff series, doing so in 2017. The Rangers were part of the 2020 playoffs inside the Toronto bubble, but they were the only team who was actually swept out of the Qualifying Round.

The Rangers' sudden rise from a troubled 2020-21 season to what we're seeing now is quite amazing. There are quite a few factors that have played into the Rangers becoming a superpower, and they are as follows:

I was shocked when Gerard Gallant was hired by the Rangers as their head coach, replacing David Quinn. Gallant is known for coaching the Florida Panthers, mainly how he was unceremoniously ousted. He was hired as the very first head coach of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017. How did Gallant do? Well, he coached the Knights to the Stanley Cup Final in Year One. That's OK, I guess. That season showed that Gallant had a way with teams, and it clearly showed this season with the Rangers. The team is on a completely other level right now, they are not to be tampered with, and that is, in part, due to the coaching of Gerard Gallant.

Another factor has to be the stellar goaltending of Igor Shesterkin, whose name can't be uttered without the word "Vezina" this year. Shesterkin is playing out of his mind this year; he is in the top five in each of the three main goaltender categories: Wins, Save Percentage, and Goals Against Average. His 2.10 GAA is second in the league; only Frederik Andersen's (2.07) is lower. Shesterkin's .935 SV% is tops in the entire league, and his 34 wins tie him with Andersen and Jacob Markstrom. The only two goalies with more wins? Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy and Nashville's Juuse Saros (35 each). The efforts of Shesterkin and backup Alexandar Georgiev have resulted in the Rangers being in the top 5 in GAA (2.54) and SV% (.920).

While the Rangers have Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad leading them offensively, the true main story here is Chris Kreider. Kreider's two goals in the playoff clinching victory have given him 49 total. Entering this season, Kreider's previous high for goals in a season was 28, a number he reached twice. Clearly, Kreider is on pace to double that total, at least; he may put in 60 this season! Panarin is the points leader with 88 this season--21 goals and 67 assists, and regarding Zibanejad, he has 74 points (27 G/47 A). The aforementioned Kreider has 70 points of his own, but right behind those three is the reigning Norris winner, Adam Fox, with 67 points--10 goals and 57 assists. The Rangers are in the middle of the pack offensively (scoring 3.03 goals per game), but their special teams has been stellar. They are in the top 10 in both power play and penalty kill; their 81.6 PK% is 9th in the league, but their 26.4 PP% is second overall (only Toronto's is higher).

The Rangers reached 100 points this season, which places them in a tie for the Metropolitan Division lead with the Carolina Hurricanes. The teams have two head-to-head meetings left this season, both at Madison Square Garden, and those games could end up deciding who takes control of the Metro. As for the playoffs overall, the Rangers could be facing the Pittsburgh Penguins, though if things go right for them, they may face one of the Wild Cards in Round 1.

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