CUP FAVOURITES CLASH AT MSG
Rangers, Jets have best points percentages in conferences, and loaded up at deadline
It's hockey's biggest market against its smallest. The Statue of Liberty versus the Golden Boy. Times Square meets Osborne Village.
As lopsided as the comparisons between megalopolis New York and relatively tiny Winnipeg are, try this on for size: Tuesday night's Madison Square Garden matchup between the Rangers and Jets could be a preview of the Stanley Cup Final.
I know what many of you are thinking: Friesen has officially lost his mind. But there's really nothing insane about it. Just look at the NHL standings today.
The Rangers are tied with Florida for the most wins (45) and hold the best points percentage (.691) in the East, while the Jets are tied with Colorado for wins (43) and have the best points percentage in the West (.679).
These teams aren't just playoff bound, they're locked and loaded for a deep run.
They may play in cities at the opposite ends of the spectrum, but they have one nasty thing in common: For opponents, points are equally hard to come by in both places. The Rangers are
24-8 at home, the Jets 23-9-2. Only mile-high Colorado has more wins on home ice.
There are other similarities when it comes to talent. Both teams have four players with at least 20 goals.
The Rangers have five players with 50 or more points, tied for the most in the league, and the Jets could have five or six by the end of Tuesday's game: Tyler Toffoli (49), Nik Ehlers (49), Sean Monahan (48) and Kyle Connor (47) will join Mark Scheifele (59) and Josh Morrissey (56).
Check out this assessment of the Rangers from Larry Brooks of the New York Post on Monday.
They have received superior netminding from both Igor Shesterkin ... and Jonathan Quick. And they are getting contributions straight down the lineup after a pair of holes up front were filled with deadline acquisitions Alex Wennberg and Jack Roslovic. Now rewrite that paragraph from a Winnipeg perspective, inserting the names Connor Hellebuyck, Laurent Brossoit, Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli.
The Rangers may not have needed the high-end scoring that
Monahan and Toffoli brought to Winnipeg before the trade deadline, but now that the Jets have got it, they have an equally potent lineup.
Neither team makes its living setting scoring records, though. Neither is in the NHL's top five for goals. However, they're both in the top five in goals against, and we don't have to tell you which one of those is more important.
After a Sunday win over the Islanders, the Rangers' Artemi Panarin told the Post what impresses him the most about his team is the quality of the people. “Hockey is a pretty honest game and if you have a good group of guys in there working together, that's the way to success,” Panarin said. “Of course, you have to have good players, too. We have that. Good people and good players. That's what it looks like.” That may as well be an echo off the walls of the Jets' dressing room.
There are even similarities behind the bench, where both Peter Laviolette and Rick Bowness are veterans guiding their sixth NHL team as head coaches.
Both have recent crushing losses in the Cup final, Laviolette with Nashville in 2017, Bowness with Dallas in 2020.
The one big difference: Laviolette, 59, hoisted the Stanley Cup with Carolina 18 springs ago, while the 69-year-old Jets boss is still looking for that moment.
However, Bowness was not behind the bench Tuesday. The Jets announced the 69-yearold returned to Winnipeg for a “minor medical procedure.”
Winnipeg announced that he will be away from the team until his condition improves, with associate coach Scott Arniel taking over on an interim basis.
As for other storylines, there's a villain, too. Rangers defenceman Jacob Trouba is one of those who wanted out of Winnipeg. Now he's the Rangers' captain, although he's out with an injury.
The Jets landed defenceman Neal Pionk and a first-round draft pick out of the Trouba deal. Not a bad return. Too bad Rangers winger and former Jets captain Blake Wheeler hurt his knee, because he'd add another layer of intrigue after the Jets bought him out last summer.
It would be a true David and Goliath tale. A market most players would move to in a New York minute against one almost nobody wants to get traded to.
The little team from the prairie trying to take a bite from the Big Apple. It should give us something to chew on.