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New York Rangers Notes

Rangers vs. Blackhawks: Stepping Over the Lowest Bar

The New York Rangers have won two of their last three hockey games. I'm not sure what's happening here, either.

Rangers vs. Blackhawks: Stepping Over the Lowest Bar
© David Banks-Imagn Images
  • Much like my notes story after the win over the Bruins, I am not here to rain on anyone's parade. The Rangers won a game in which they thoroughly dismantled another team. Sure the Blackhawks are terrible, but then so are these New York Rangers. It was a fair fight, and the Rangers dominated this game from start to finish in the most compete effort we've seen since October.

Chicago is terrible but so are the Rangers. This has been the best 30 minutes of hockey they have played since October. No bones about it

— Joe Fortunato (@joefortunato.bsky.social) 2025-01-05T21:37:56.530Z
  • The problem, as always these days, is the trust. I have a longer story going out about this later in the week, but the point is this: This team has already shown me what they are when things get tough, and it is not what the team showed in this win over Chicago. This was the exception, not the norm.
  • May as well start at the top. Mika Zibanejad opened the game with a patented defensive zone turnover, lazy effort to get the puck back, and a goal against. It's entirely possible that the "lazy" part of that assessment is simply that Zibanejad has no push or power left in his stride, but I'm going to at least pretend that's not the case for now because it's a horrifying thought to have about a guy with a full no movement clause signed until 2030. I also think it would be too kind to Mika to assume he's lost that much of a step and that it's not mental instead. That said, Mika made up for it with an assist in the contest, and has played his best hockey this year in the past three games. It hasn't been great, but it's been much better than whatever was happening earlier in the year. Although, again, I will say: This is the exception and not the norm.
  • The kids continue to be a bright spot of this team, and give me hope that there's more to come there. I will extrapolate on this more (and about the Kreider trade rumors that ramped up over his scratch) after the jump ...

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