– Carl Hagelin has scored 6 goals in his last 7 games after going goal-less for 36 straight.  Hagelin has scored in 4 games in a row and has 7 points (5 goals, 2 assists) in his last 4 games.
– Christian Thomas has 10 points in his last 11 games for the CT Whale after being scratched on January 20th.  Thomas scored for the 4th time in 5 games on Sunday.
– Oscar Lindberg ranks 9th in the Swedish Elite League with 37 points (16 goals, 21 assists) in 48 games.  Jesper Fast is just behind, ranking 16th with 18 goals and 15 assists in 41 games.  Those numbers should be very encouraging given how low-scoring the SEL usually is, but remember that Mats Zuccarello won MVP honors 3 years ago with 64 points in 55 games and that didn’t turn out so well.
– Henrik Lundqvist is 7-3-0 with a 1.99 GAA and a .927 SV% in his last 10 games.
– Rick Nash leads the Rangers in points (12), shots on goal (57) and plus/minus (+9)
– The Rangers are 18-3-2 in their last 23 regular season games against the Southeast Division.  New York has outscored its opponents 77-46 in those games.
– The Rangers have 17 points in 14 games this season, which puts them on pace for 58 points.  We projected it would take 53 points to make the playoffs this year.  New York’s current pace would put the team on track for 99 points in a full 82-game season.  The Blueshirts racked up 109 points last year.
– The Blueshirts had 19 points after 14 games last year.
– Does it ever feel like 90% of Marian Gaborik’s points come against doormats like the Islanders?  Well, over the last 4 years with the Rangers Gaborik has racked up 112 goals and 109 assists in 234 games.  54 of those goals and 59 assists have come in 97 games against non-playoff teams.  So if my math is right, Gaborik has averaged 1.16 points per game against non-playoff teams and .79 points per game against playoff opponents.  That’s not really out of line, you’d expect anyone to put up big numbers against lesser opponents.  But this is still pretty incredible: 27 goals and 18 assists have come in 30 games against Toronto and the Islanders.
– Gaborik is tied for 3rd in the NHL with 3 game-winning goals this season.
– The Rangers have scored 6 power play goals this season as a team.  James Neal has 7.
– Ryan Callahan is 7th in the NHL with 49 hits.  Brian Boyle is tied for 10th with 46.
– To show you how much stats can fluctuate from week-to-week in the early going, last week I mentioned that Jeff Halpern was brought in to win faceoffs and had only won 46.5% of his draws.  A few good games later, Halpern is up to 56.1%.

Status of the Atlantic Division rivals
Penguins: 22 points.  Next 5: vsPhi, vsFla, vsTB, @Fla, @Car
Devils: 22 points.  Next 5: @Wash, @Wash, vsWpg, @Wpg, @Buf
Flyers: 15 points.  Next 5: @Pit, vsFla, vsWpg, vsTor, vsWash
Islanders: 13 points.  Next 5: @Ott, @Mon, @Buf, vsCar, vsBos

Recent ex-Ranger watch
Brandon Prust – 15gp 2g, 2a.  Leads NHL with 71 penalty minutes.
John Mitchell – 13gp, 5g, 4a, +7
Brandon Dubinsky – 15gp, 1g, 7a, 39PIM.  Out with an injured knee.
Artem Anisimov – 14gp, 4g, 2a.  Out with a bruised foot.
Tim Erixon – 8gp, 0g, 2a, +4
Ruslan Fedotenko – 17gp, 1g, 4a
Wade Redden – 9gp, 2g, 0a, -6.  Was a healthy scratch twice last week.  Here’s a good ESPN piece on Redden’s return.
Mike Rupp – 14gp, 1g, 0a, 12PIM

Team rankings entering last night’s games
– New York is ranked 16th in goals per game, 11th in goals against, 30th on the power play and 8th on the penalty kill.
– 5 teams are averaging more shots per game than New York’s 30.4.
– Only Tampa Bay has scored more goals on home ice than the Rangers’ 28.
– The Rangers are tied with Columbus for last in the league in goals scored on the road with 9.  New York has only allowed 13 goals on the road, 2nd-fewest in the NHL.
– The Rangers have scored just 10 2nd period goals this season, 2nd-fewest in the league.
– New York leads the league with 12 minutes worth of bench minor penalties.

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