The Rangers are back to the same old recipe

Somehow it is working again. For now.

Not sure how else to say this except to loudly proclaim that the New York Rangers are back on their same old shit from a year ago.

Maybe too not quite the same extreme, but they are definitely back on it and it continues to be a fascinating thing to watch.

On one hand, the Rangers are an excellent team with the potential to be a great team.

Their front-line players are as good as any other team in the NHL and they still have a couple of recent top draft picks whose potential is immense if they could ever figure out a way to develop them.

They have one of the league’s best all-around defenseman in Adam Fox to lead their blue line, and they have a game-changing goalie in Igor Shesterkin that is anywhere from (at worst) a top-three goalie in the league to (at best) the best goalie in the league.

All of that should — SHOULD — make the Rangers one of the league’s top Stanley Cup contenders.

Or it should at least be the foundation of a potential Stanley Cup team.

But something always seems missing from this group, while their actual play on the ice never seems to back up the roster on paper or their place in the standings.

Every time you watch them it just seems like the entire mindset is to let Shesterkin make all of the saves, wait for the top line or the power play to convert on some chances in transition, and then hope for the best.

More often than not, it works! But how far is that really going to take them?