The Rangers' 15 goals, which started 2-0-1, were the most through three games since they scored the most on a 3-0-0 road trip in the 1983-84 season. Not only that, but 11 of the club's goals have been scored at 5-on-5.
But the Blueshirts are creating too many chances, especially too many Grade A chances.
The front door of Igor Shesterkin was often used as a welcome mat. While the team has navigated a dangerous life this week, it's not a particularly sustained template for success.
“I don't think there should be too much give and take,” Vincent Trocheck, who does it a little too often in his dynamic line with Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere, told the Post. “I think we need to focus more on the sticky side of the puck. We were a little sloppy and our talent took over.
“Even against Utah. [OT defeat] Our talent took over and scored five goals, so it wasn't completely biased in their direction. But defensively, it starts with turnovers. I think sometimes I'm turning the puck over in the wrong places.
“That's going to happen when you have a lot of skilled players trying to make plays, so you have to go back to the zone and do your job,” the No. 16 said. “It starts with arriving and you have to know where you’re going, without coming back and over-checking and doing too much of other people’s work.
“Come back and fix the problem and sort things out.”
The Blueshirts travel to the Red Wings on Thursday, the Maple Leafs on Saturday and the Canadiens on Tuesday before heading off to Detroit, Toronto and Montreal.
There's a lot of talent on the other side of the hill. The Rangers will need to step it up.
“Turnover is definitely a factor in a lot of it,” Adam Fox told the Post. “And then sometimes I lose control a little bit and have a little bit of a panic attack.
“So we kind of leave guys wide open in front of us. The biggest culprit is turnovers, but also rush coverage. We're allowing too many chances and goals from in front of the net. There are, so we need to address that.”
The eye test and the small sample size numbers are based on that.
The Rangers aren't creating a ton of chances, and the club has never been under siege, but they've consistently conceded inside both in transition and in end zone coverage.
“Like I said, it's about coming back at our end and clearing everything up before the chaos takes over,” Trocheck said. “High to low, chips coming forward, those things are going to happen, but we need to understand the structure.”
One would think that having an elite goalie would encourage teams to trade chances. That's not the case. That never happened.
The Devils minimized their chances against Martin Brodeur. The Rangers tried to minimize their chances against Henrik Lundqvist.
No one heard Scotty Bowman telling the Canadians to take chances, even when he was putting Ken Dryden in net.
Conversely, the Habs played a lock on the left side. The Oilers may have been playing all of Showtime when Grant Fuhr was scoring goals, but that was 40 years ago and they had Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson and Paul Coffey.
But perhaps there's a subconscious comfort zone for the Rangers in knowing that Shesterkin will be a reliable picker-upper from any artificial disruption by his teammates.
“I never thought about that,” Trocheck said. “Obviously I'm super happy to have him back, but I don't think there was ever a subconscious thought like, 'Oh, I've got Igor here so I can flirt here.'
“There's a lot of really talented players out there right now. To be honest with you, whoever you have, if you give a player a chance from the slot, it's going to be in your head. If you're on the defensive end, If you give up, you'll be like that.'' I'm like, “Yeah, I'm going in.''
“That's why I can't do it.”
But the Rangers could pay more attention to their details. They may be better at avoiding turnovers. They could be better on the defensive side of the puck.
“That's one of the focuses of this trip,” Trocheck said. “surely.”
