The New York Rangers’ road trip has not gone well, starting with an embarrassing loss to the New Jersey Devils, 7-1.
They played better in the second game of the trip, paying a visit to the Columbus Blue Jackets. There is a lot of work to do with their offense away from Madison Square Garden, as an incredible bounceback effort from goalie Dylan Garand went to waste.
Garand stopped the first 28 shots he faced, but Kent Johnson was able to beat him for the first and only goal of the game in overtime in a 1-0 Blue Jackets victory, with assists from Zach Werenski and Charlie Coyle.
It was a game the Rangers could have certainly gotten more than one point in, but after how poorly the team played against the Devils, it was nice to salvage anything positive. In the process, they also continued excelling in one key area defensively: penalty kills.
Rangers are excelling at killing off penalties
Columbus drew three penalties in the game but were unable to convert on any of those man-advantage chances. Unfortunately, New York had a matching 0-for-3 performance, one of the several areas that they came up short in.
How well the Rangers played during the penalty kill is becoming quite a strength for the team to rely on. No one wants to play a man down, but Mike Sullivan’s group has not been fazed by those situations, getting the job done time and time again.
With the three penalty kills against the Blue Jackets, New York has now successfully killed 29 out of 31 penalties through 10 games. On the road, per NHL.com, they remain perfect, one of only four teams remaining in the NHL that can make that claim.
Overall, the Rangers’ penalty kill of 93.5% is the second-best in the League. That is tied with the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes and trails only the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have a penalty kill percentage of 96.43, giving up only one goal in 28 chances.
It will certainly be something worth keeping an eye on to see if New York can continue being an elite team on special teams. Last season, the Rangers were middle of the road, killing 79.92% of penalties, which was 15th in the NHL.
If this improvement is legitimate and here to stay, and the team can get back to the form it showed last season on the power play, New York has a chance to be the best squad in the League when it comes to special teams play.
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