from Travis Yost of TSN,

Just six months ago, we were preparing for one of the most one-sided playoff matchups the first round had to offer. All expectations were that the Pittsburgh Penguins would roll over a New York Rangers team that was beaten up all season long, exclusively relying on their superstar goaltender to bail them out of trouble time and time again.

Things have changed.

It’s hard to think of a team (maybe the Canadiens?) generating more positive buzz around the league right now than the Blueshirts. Alain Vigneault’s team has won 11 of the first 15 games and owns a ridiculous +27 goal differential, which is more than a handful of goals clear of their nearest competition. They’re ridiculously fast at the forward position, their defence has held up far better than it did a year ago, and they have a goaltending advantage against any team in the league except Montreal. At a bare minimum, that seems to be good enough to make the playoffs and actually offer something in the round of 16 – a far cry from where things were last April.

Any time a team gets out to this kind of start, the talk begins about their Stanley Cup chances. Are the Rangers a championship-calibre team? Finding the answer starts with two simple questions: (1) Do you have an elite goaltender? (2) How exactly are you driving such massive goal differentials?

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