After a long lay off, the Nights on Broadway is back on the blog. No it’s not because the Rangers are winning right now, I’ve been out of the NYR loop a bit following two vacations and the finishing of wedding plans. The last block of games has probably been the closest I’ve watch this season and would ya look at that, the team is winning, so maybe I’m the good luck charm.

Enough jokes though, let’s talk about where this team is at, following their best stretch of the year. They’ve gone 6-2-2 in their last ten contests, with really solid performances put in against several of the leagues better teams like the Stars, Senators, Avalanche, Knights and Canadiens. We came into this season looking for signs of life after a miserable 24-25 campaign and we’ve gotten that. Unfortunately “that” is something pretty intangible as it’s hard to get people fired up about effort and compete. It’s even harder when people you struggle to score, let alone win, at home like the Rangers have at MSG this year.

The aforementioned 6-2-2 stretch has been all about playing complete games on a nightly basis. The Rangers hadn’t done a ton of that early on but you’re seeing them hang in games longer and outplay the opposition for stretches, even in games where they lack the quality talent to win. I’m referring to games like the one against the Avalanche last Saturday, where they battled start to finish to get a point in OT. Battling efforts like that are due in large part to the grinding style the bottom six gives this team with rookie Noah Laba and Sam Carrick leading that charge down the middle.

Of course a lot of this “improved play” has been backstopped by goalie Igor Shesterkin, who is putting together one of his best seasons yet. While his save percentage may only be .909, he’s played so much better than that and his 2.52 GAA would indicate. It honestly feels similar to a season that Henrik Lundqvist would have turned in back in 2011, the kind where he got very little support with a decent defense core in front of him. For what it’s worth this defense deserves some love too, as they’re performing admirably in the absence of Adam Fox. Braden Schneider had complimented the excellent Vlad Gavrikov well, while Robertson, Soucy and Borgen have always played some solid games.

Overall it feels like things are turning for this group. They’re getting some improved puck luck and the big guns are chipping in. JT Miller, Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad need to carry this team offensively so nights like the one they had Saturday night need to continue the rest of the way. At 16-13-4 (36 points) they’re just one point behind the Penguins for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The season is now a sprint to the Olympic break in February, a stretch where banking more points before the deadline will be critical. A successful run needs to start over the course of the next few games as the Blueshirts battle a mix of Eastern playoff rivals and rebuilding teams from out west.

Before I go I wanted to highlight the Rangers centennial celebration from Saturday night. This was easily the best centennial night yet, there was actually a lot of alumni that were able to come out for this one. With all due respect to the players highlighted in the earlier ones, the ceremonies fell flat due to what seemed to be MSG crowds that didn’t have familiar alumni to celebrate. But Saturday night felt right with Sam Rosen serving as master of ceremonies, and the likes of Ron Greschner, Brad Park, John Davidson, and many more on the ice in a blueshirt again. Special shoutout to Reijo Routsalainen, my mom’s first favorite Ranger, who appeared Saturday night.

I’m looking forward to more centennial nights and hopefully some more winning hockey! On twitter you can find Mike @Mike_Sheerin, Tyler @TMon_19 and Sean @SeanMartinNFL. Subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. Check out our Instagram feed @thebroadwaybreakdownsports for special gameday and promotional content. Our podcasts are available on Spotify. Visit the Rangers Ed Shop by clicking the link on our homepage. Check out our mailbag page to join the conversation here on the site and on our partners show, The Rangers Ed Podcast! We’ll be back with more soon.