Rangers finally overcome faceoff shortcomings with impressive turnaround
NY Post
TAMPA, Fla. — The Rangers were have-nots at the dots for 14 seasons, but they’ve done an about-face in this important area.
The team sits in first place in the Metropolitan Division as it heads to Pittsburgh for a Saturday matinee with the Penguins, followed by a Sunday afternoon date with the Islanders at the Garden.
While Artemi Panarin’s 88 points, top-tier goaltending from Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick and exquisite special teams units are responsible for much of that success, the Rangers are saving some of the credit for the turnaround on faceoffs.
The Blueshirts enter Saturday ranked fifth in the NHL with a faceoff winning percentage of 52.8 percent.
While that doesn’t sound like cause for a parade, it’s better than where they’ve been.
From the 2009-10 season on, the Blueshirts have not ranked higher than 14th in the league in any season, and they’ve been under 50 percent in each of those campaigns except for 2012-13, when they posted a statistically improbable 1,410 wins and 1,410 losses.
If Brian Daboll will be fighting to keep his job across these next seven weeks, it is not lost on Tommy DeVito that he is the one who has been entrusted to help his coach save it.
Kevin Shattenkirk is 35, a Stanley Cup champion and now a father of three with his wife, Deanna, after having a second daughter in September.
SALT LAKE CITY — An encouraging upgrade in his availability status didn’t result in Miles McBride’s return to the Knicks lineup.
This is pretty much the deal.
Uncertainty has followed Zion Williamson off the court.
SALT LAKE CITY — The “Dimes” nickname is open in New York now that quarterback Daniel Jones has been released by the Giants, and perhaps it can be a fitting team-wide moniker in another sport.
General Curtis LeMay: “You’re in a pretty big fix, Mr. President.”
Last spring’s ultimate defeat, coming on top of a quite similar one 24 months earlier, should have proved once and for all that the Rangers’ skill game, impressive at it at may be in spurts, does not overcome their physicality deficiency at the final-four level.
Jon Berti, who started three postseason games at first base for the Yankees when Anthony Rizzo was out with fractured fingers, was non-tendered by the team prior to Friday’s deadline, as was left-hander Tim Mayza.
CALGARY, Alberta — The Rangers needed just 16 seconds to get back into a game they had no business being in over halfway through.
There won’t be much drama regarding the announcement of the American League MVP award Thursday with Aaron Judge set to capture the award for the second time in three years.