The Rangers have 1 point less than Florida and Washington and games in hand over both teams. They have indeed been red hot. I expected the winning streak to stop when Igor was put on IR, but Georgiev, who seemed like he was on the verge of being cut earlier this year, has put together a few solid backup goalie performances. His Save % until recently had been around .867 (which in the NHL gets your ass cut, even as a backup), but more recently he has been OK. I think Georgiev is a guy who needs regular work and because Igor was so hot, and Gallant recognized you have to ride a hot goalie as long as you can, Georgiev suffered from "goalie rust", a condition known to afflict backup goalies playing behind superstar goalies. In reality, I think Georgiev is an acceptable backup, and now that he is getting regular work he should shake off the goalie rust.
Panarin has been playing great ever since Marchand got him fined $5K for throwing his glove. I think Marchand fired Panarin up. Panarin is one of those guys who needs something to fire him up and once he gets fired up he can go on point binges, as he has. We owe it mainly to Marchand and maybe to the NHL for fining him, ridiculously, for nothing.
However with apologies to Panarin, make no mistake that Igor Shesterkin is the best player on the NY Rangers team. The Rangers wouldn't be where they are without Igor. He has consistently been first star in almost all of their wins
.....young goaly ANNUNEN gets win plus assist in first NHL start....will remember that day the rest of his life 
