in NHL Betting Trends

Jagr dominating

Back before the National Hockey League season began, the New York Rangers were considered a top contender - to finish in last place overall and snag the rights to American phenom Phil Kessel. It hasn’t quite worked out like that however, as the blueshirts somehow boast one of the top records in the Eastern Conference.

Will the Rangers end the season up around the league’s elite? Probably not, and a recent cold streak has them fading a bit in the standings and trailing the Philadelphia Flyers in the Atlantic Division. Regardless, as long as they play at a decent level the rest of the way, and as long as the crosstown rival Islanders and Devils continue to flounder, the playoffs are looking like a strong possibility.

So what’s been the key to New York’s success in 2005/06? A big, actually huge, part of it can be attributed to winger Jaromir Jagr, who is once again a high-flying scoring threat and perhaps the NHL’s most dangerous player. Splitting his time between the Capitals and the Rangers back in 2003/04, Jagr averaged under a point per game. That campaign was Jagr’s third in Washington, and the third straight sub-par scoring total for the five-time Art Ross Trophy winner.

This year, Jagr finds himself on pace for more than 120 points and over 50 goals, and atop the scoring race once again. Helping him out on offense are a trio of fellow Czech forwards - Martin Rucinsky, Martin Straka, and Petr Prucha. Straka, who had a terrible 2003/04 season, is back to a point-per-game clip this year, as is Rucinksy, despite having missed a chunk of games due to injury. Prucha, a rookie, is second only to Jagr in goals for the Rangers this season.

Toss in Swede Michael Nylander, who was injured for most of the 2003/04 season but has bounced back in a big way in 2005/06, and you have the bulk of New York’s offense being produced by five skaters. And that group can’t afford to take any nights off - there is precious little secondary scoring from the third or fourth lines or the defense corps, with center Steve Rucchin and defenseman Tom Poti producing below expectations.

But it’s surprisingly not even the offense that has been the best part of New York’s game this season. While the Rangers are only scoring about three goals per game on average thus far, their defense is allowing just over 2.5 goals per game which puts them near the league leaders in that category.

Newcomers Marek Malik and Michal Roszival have helped in the defensive end, but it’s rookie goalie Henrik Lundqvist who has really stood out. Lundqvist came into camp in a battle with Alvaro Montoya for the team’s backup job, outperformed his fellow rookie, and then proceeded to outplay starter Kevin Weekes when the season kicked off. As a result, Lundqvist has played about two-thirds of the team’s games in net so far this year.

And played them well. Lundqvist sits in the top three in the league in both goals against average and save percentage, with Weekes well behind him in both categories. With any rookie goaltender there’s a chance they’ll embark on a slump at some point (see Jason LaBarbera’s game log for an example), but Lundqvist has been consistently solid through the first three months of the season.

If Lundqvist finally does start to struggle, however, and Weekes continues to play like, well, Weekes, then the Rangers could be in some trouble. There is no standout on defense like in the days of Brian Leetch, and Nylander, Straka, and Rucinsky are all injury risks. Yes, the playoffs are looking like a strong possibility right now, but there are reasons why the Rangers were so poorly thought of before the season; New York fans are hoping those reasons aren’t revisited during the second half of the year.

Comments or Questions? Email FaceOff@BetUS.com.