Blueshirts Clinch Presidents' Trophy
This Rangers train just won’t stop rolling. Over the last couple weeks they’ve chased the 14-0-1 Hamburglar, came back to win in Winnipeg with less than 4 minutes left & derailed Devan Dubnyk’s 26-5-1 run under Minnesota’s roof – all teams jockeying for their playoff lives. Last night’s comeback win over the Jackets, who had won 12 of 13, was equally as impressive. Doesn’t matter that Columbus is well out of the postseason picture (thanks to a ton of injuries). Fact is, taking down a white-hot team in OT after a last-minute equalizer with Hank pulled is just another confidence boost for a Blueshirts squad winning games any way possible. As for tonight, no matter how much the Devils went out of their way to turn this into a midnight beer league matchup, the Rangers kept their cool in front of Cam Talbot & cemented their spot atop the entire NHL. I would’ve liked to have seen Glass drop the mitts early & the power play cash in more, but they’re leaving Newark with a W and their health intact so it’s all good.
26 teams have won the Presidents’ Trophy over full regular seasons. 9 have played for the Cup & 7 of them have hoisted it – but just one has done it since ’02. 6 teams have gone one-and-done, including 3 of the last 5 (again, not including shortened seasons). So basically, just like every other team that makes the dance, anything can happen. Still, it’s a nice piece for the trophy case & hopefully a sign of things to come like it was in 1994. With Lundqvist already in elite form, Yandle catching fire & arguably their second-best blueliner in Kevin Klein expected to return just in time for Round 1, you simply can’t ask for a team to be flying any higher than AV’s got his squad flying headed into another Cup chase. Hey JR, hit me one time!
