Jets-Rangers at MSG could be Cup preview
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).
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 New York 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 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 wasn't behind the bench Tuesday. The Jets announced Bowness returned to Winnipeg for a “minor medical procedure.”
The little team from the prairie trying to take a bite from the Big Apple. It should give us something to chew on.