The New York Rangers finally get
to hit home ice tonight after playing their first seven games on the road. The team battled through both poor play and injuries
on defense to come home with a successful 3-2-2 record. Much of the discussion this week is about how
nice it is for the Rangers to be with the opportunity to play in a partially
renovated Madison Square Garden. The
benefit of starting with so many road games is that you get a six-game home-stand like the one the Rangers begin tonight against Toronto. However, the question must be asked as to whether
the Rangers can actually make MSG an actual home ice advantage this season for
that to be helpful to them?
The past two years the Rangers have
had their season’s come down to the final day simply because they have not been
dominant enough on home ice. Both season
they were well above .500 on the road, and actually recorded more points on the
road than at home in both seasons. Their
mediocre home record is one of the biggest things holding this team back. In 2009-10 the Rangers were just 18-17-6 at
home and ended up missing the playoffs by a single point. Last season the team improved slightly to
20-17-4 at home, but still needed help from Tampa on the final day to make the
playoffs by two points.
All the new features of the
Garden are nice for the fans and the players to take in off the ice, but none
of it matters if the Rangers don’t make it a place the opposition fears coming. Coach John Tortorella spoke to that
yesterday.
"We love what we see," said Tortorella. "But
we need to win here. That's what makes a building good. Winning in it."
If the Rangers have aspirations of winning a division or
just moving up in the final standings from the past few years it will start
with making their building a tougher place to play. The Rangers have to get back to the level just
after the lockout when they won 25, 21, 25, and 26 games on home ice. The excuse the past few years has been that
the players want it so bad at home that they press and whether that is true or
not it has to end this season and tonight is a perfect time to set the tone for
the home season. The Rangers are opening
a six game home-stand that can send a message throughout the league that they
are back to being a good home team and not one who you can steal points off.
Combining their play on the road with 25 wins at home makes
the Rangers a legitimate threat to get home ice in the playoffs. If they repeat their .500 or just over home
mark they are going to once again be battling for the final spots down the
stretch. Tonight is the beginning of
whether the Rangers will once again make MSG home sweet home.
