The Rangers need to prove they can compete with the NHL's best team, the Jets.
While it won't be a season-breaking game, they will have to batten down the hatches. The Jets are a deep team, one of the best after Rick Bowness retired, many forgot about how good they were.
Enter Scott Arniel, and their discipline is still well-maintained and they've won 14 of their last 15 games. An unreal statistic for one of the smaller markets in the league.
Nevertheless, the Rangers will have to take what they've learned from their loss against the Sabres and follow through with a win against the Winnipeg Jets.
A negative result could give the Rangers a bad outlook from fans, and pundits across the league about their abilities.
«They're obviously playing well, so we're going to have to make sure that we clean up some things coming out of our end and making sure that we're playing straight forward,» Braden Schneider told The Post after Jonathan Quick helped the Rangers steal a win over the Red Wings Saturday night in Detroit. «They're a big, heavy group that has the talent that we have to put pucks away. It's going to be our biggest test yet and hopefully we can come out on top.» They haven't looked like the same team that made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2023-2024.
They had a short run of brilliance which lasted about two weeks before the fire died out in the offense. While the defense has been lackluster, unfortunately.
To give you an idea Per Mollie Walker:
Their rolling 10-game average Corsi percentage at five-on-five - which measures a team's puck possession and shot attempts - has been in a steady decline since late October, according to Natural Stat Trick.
After hovering around 50 percent through much of the first month of the season, the Blueshirts have dipped below.
.
They haven't been able to control the games like they used to, and results with a subpar CF% means fewer shots on the net.
«I think continuing to work on our process,» Chris Kreider said. «Continuing to improve our breakouts, I think there's still a few too many times where we gave up almost odd-man situations where our F3 is caught a little bit. It's forechecking effectively, but intelligently so we're not giving up odd-man rushes and putting so much pressure on our goaltenders to make stops for us. The Jets will come into Madison Square Garden with a chip on their shoulder, especially after last season's early playoff exit.
They could be in the running for the President's Trophy, and the Rangers should operate on the fact they will end their campaign early, and extinguish the flame now.
That would mean they'd have to play a tough game, against the league's best team.
«They're No. 1 for a reason,» Schneider said of the Jets. «We've got to make sure that we're ready to put our best foot forward. Because I think when we do, I think we're just as good. I think it's going to be a challenge and we have to make sure we're ready to go.»
The Rangers will have to find a way to crack not only Connor Hellebuyck but the Jets' deep, four-line offense.
| POLL |
Will the Rangers be able to defeat the Winnipeg Jets in Madison Square Garden tomorrow? |
| Yes | 516 | 50.1 % |
| No | 514 | 49.9 % |
| List of polls |
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