Rangers playing ‘different brand of hockey’ in recent surge
NY Post
The Rangers haven’t wavered when describing their games for the past few weeks.
Even if the results and their placement in the standings didn’t change much, they’d improved from the lowest points of their slide.
“A different vibe,” Vincent Trocheck told The Post’s Larry Brooks last week.
And after securing five out of a possible six points during a three-game West Coast trip, the Rangers finally have the results to back up those claims.
They’ve collected points in seven of their past eight games and enter Saturday’s match against the Blue Jackets — which starts a four-game stretch against beatable teams ahead of them in the playoff race — with a six-game point streak.
“It seems like ever since Christmas,” forward Reilly Smith said Thursday after a 5-3 victory against the Utah Hockey Club, “we’re playing a different brand of hockey.”
NFL fans were mortified by when referees levied an unnecessary roughness penalty on the Texans in the third quarter of Saturday’s AFC divisional round game against Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City — a game the Chiefs went on to win 23-14.
At various points of this up-and-down season, the Rangers almost certainly would have found a way to lose a game like the one they played Saturday night against red-hot Columbus at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks already were without injured center Karl-Anthony Towns — the No. 2 rebounder in the NBA — when the No. 2 rebounder on their team headed for the locker room clutching his left shoulder in the third quarter of Friday’s home loss to the Timberwolves.
Travis Kelce had some jokes following the Chiefs’ 23-14 home win over the Texans in the AFC divisional round.
The Rangers have put the noise and distractions behind them. It has been about hockey and only about hockey since the calendar flipped to 2025.
The Mets are suddenly in the same place strategically trying to replace Pete Alonso as the Yankees were when Juan Soto left for the Mets. Cue, the irony.
The Knicks viewed January as an opportunity to beef up their overall record with a stretch of 12 out of 14 games slated to be played at home, but the Garden has been anything but a party so far for Tom Thibodeau’s team this month.
ORCHARD PARK — The hardy souls across western New York and inside Highmark Stadium never ask for much, just that elusive first Super Bowl championship, but first Josh Allen with the ball in his hands last on Sunday night.
Mitchell Robinson hasn’t spoken with the media since undergoing ankle surgery in May, but every now and then, he offers an update on social media on a rehabilitation process that now has stretched into the second half of the Knicks’ season.
In the immediate aftermath of Juan Soto choosing the Mets, Brian Cashman addressed media and scanned through his roster for areas of need.
For a team that often boasts about its slew of strong perimeter defenders, the Knicks certainly do give up a ton of points outside their 3-point line.
The Jets completed interviews No. 13, 14 and 15 for their head coach opening on Friday.
The Rangers haven’t wavered when describing their games for the past few weeks.
One former front office executive is suggesting foul play foul play in the Dodgers’ signing of Roki Sasaki.
No one is more taken with the idea of a “Prime Time” sequel in Dallas than Jerry Jones.
SALT LAKE CITY — At the end of the 2024-25 regular season, this three-game road trip could be a difference-maker for the Rangers.
With less than a month before players begin reporting to spring training, the market is still moving like molasses. If fans are frustrated by the ultra-slow pace, imagine how free agents feel.
Precious Achiuwa didn’t start. But he finished.