NHL Insights: Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, New York Rangers

Welcome to another edition of NHL Insights as we look at some teams that are heating up at the right time and have reentered the playoff conversation. Those teams include the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, and New York Rangers

A new season means NHL Insights has returned. The quarter mark of the season has just passed, and teams we thought would miss the playoffs are finding their game and getting hot at the right time. Like in Godfather Part III, “Just when I thought they were out, they pull us back in.” And the old reliable teams are back in the mix to make things interesting with the holiday freeze and break coming up shortly. These teams are getting hot at the right time after slow starts. In this edition of NHL Insights, we look at the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, and the New York Rangers — all of whom are right in the thick of the playoff picture.

Time to dive into some NHL Insights for the past week.

NHL Insights: Penguins, Capitals, and Rangers

Pittsburgh Penguins 

Look who is sitting in third place in the Metro Division… everyone’s favourite team the Pittsburgh Penguins. Nobody was really sure what the Penguins were going to do this season. Especially with an older veteran team that is not getting any younger. The question surrounding the Penguins and the next team on the list the Washington Capitals, was is this the year these teams would miss the playoffs?

Early on it sure looked like it. Especially having to deal with a seven-game losing streak. A team only gets so many four-game losing streaks and the Penguins burned one early in the season. Questions started to arise about whether or not it was wise to bring back Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin on longer-term contracts just so they could be Penguins for life along with Sidney Crosby. Not to mention the deals for Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell.

However, those questions have gone away as the Penguins have won five in a row and are 8-1-1 over their last 10 games. Defensively this team is much better than earlier in the year. The Penguins have been known to have slow starts, but it looked like it has in the years past when you count the Penguins out, they rise up. Crosby is showing he is still one of the best players in the world putting this team on his back. The depth scoring that was not there earlier in the season, is showing up. Not to mention, Tristan Jarry has found his rhythm in between the pipes. Would it shock anyone if Pittsburgh finishes near the top of the division and make a deep run in the playoffs again?

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Washington Capitals 

Another team everyone thought was out but now is close to being back in is the Washington Capitals. Like the Penguins, the early part of the season at least the first 25 games, was not good. Too many nights of inconsistent hockey put the Capitals behind the eight-ball. Not to mention, the teams in the division got better like the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders. Plus injuries have decimated this team. Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson, Carl Hagelin, Darcy Kuemper and the list goes on. But despite all of those injuries, the Capitals have overcome them and are one point behind the New York Rangers for the final wild-card spot in the East.

A big reason why is the four-game winning streak the Capitals are quietly having. With Kuemper out of the lineup, Charlie Lindgren has filled in quite nicely. It is the year of the backup goalie and the Capitals are benefiting from his play. Not that Kuemper was playing badly, but the defence in front of him was much different than it was in Colorado.

The Capitals are playing a team game instead of an individual one during this four-game winning streak. The defensive effort is much better than it was in the first quarter of the season. And with Alex Ovechkin‘s pursuit of 800 goals including four empty-net goals in the past four games, the Capitals are showing they are not out of this thing just yet.

New York Rangers

Last week on NHL Insights, we spotlighted the New York Rangers as one of those teams that were looking to find their game. Well, this Rangers team has gotten their acts together. Last Monday’s game against the St. Louis Blues was not a must-win game, but it could have been a turning point in their season. Looking for consistency in their game, the Rangers were able to defeat the Blues by a score of 7-4. However, it was the adjustments made by Gerard Gallant that got everyone talking.

As mentioned last week, the chemistry of this Rangers team is much different. The veteran players they lost in free agency brought a certain edge necessary for the Rangers to be successful. Those kids like  Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko were going to be put in roles that were unfamiliar to them. Expectations for those players were going to be higher. Looking for offence, Gallant put Kakko and Lafreniere up with Mika Zibanejad and the move paid off right away. In addition, Filip Chytil moved from the third line to the second-line center dropping Vincent Trocheck and Chris Kreider.

The Rangers have won three games in a row and these moves have given the Rangers more depth scoring necessary to win. They are playing better defence as well. Not to mention Igor Shesterkin looks like his former self again. Shesterkin is being more aggressive in his crease. Instead of backing up and giving shooters more net to shoot at, he is coming out and attacking his angles more. This is what made him play so well last season.

Again like the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Rangers had the ability to turn it around in the room. Just need patience.