It’s better to be lucky than good, and the Rangers were extremely lucky to get two gigantic points Sunday versus the Devils.
They were also lucky that the NHL schedule maker put this unique four-game series on the April calendar. It’s impossible to say that the Rangers would or would not have played better against a better opponent, but it’s positively true that they didn’t play their best in the four games and won all four.
Incidentally, the four-game series sweep — the first of its kind in NHL regular-season history — was the Rangers’ first since they swept the Atlanta Thrashers in the 2007 playoffs. You might recall, that was the one where Sean Avery rented space in Ilya Kovalchuk’s head, and when Kovalchuk finally snapped and fought Avery, the Rangers’ super pest was asked if that was a good trade, getting the Thrashers’ star off the ice.
