The Great Divide: Rangers vs. Islanders
New York Rangers' Derek Stepan and Mats Zuccarello celebrate Marian Gaborik's goal against New York Islanders goalie Evgeni Nabokov in overtime. (March 11, 2012) Credit: AP
You don't have to be a stat geek to recognize the huge talent gap that exists in the Eastern Conference between the first place Rangers and the 14th place Islanders.
A simple look at the standings confirms that: the Rangers have 95 points and the Islanders 67. The Rangers have 44 wins in 69 games, while the Islanders have 28 wins in 70 games.
But those numbers are the end result. So to delve a little deeper into the numbers, we looked at a period-by-period breakdown for every NHL team. To see just how good the Rangers may be and just how bad the Islanders seem to be, we looked at the goal differential for every period and compared it to the rest of the league (Note: all stats are prior to Wednesday's games):
- The Rangers have the sixth best goal differential in the NHL at +42. The teams ahead of them are Boston (+53), Detroit (+52), St. Louis (+47), Pittsburgh (+46) and Vancouver (+43). The Islanders are second worst in the NHL at -47. The only team worse is Columbus (-62).
- The Rangers are ninth in first-period differential at +5. The Islanders are 21st with -5. The Rangers are fourth in second-period differential at +18 The only teams higher are New Jersey (+22), San Jose (+21) and Philadelphia (+19). The Islanders are tied for 25th at -12 with Dallas.
- The Rangers are sixth in third-period differential at +18. The Islanders are second to last at -29. The only team worse is Columbus (-36).
- The Rangers are first in overtime differential at +5. The Islanders are tied for next to last at -4 with Calgary, Anaheim and Florida.
- The Rangers have a positive goal differential in every period this season. The only other teams to do that are Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit and St. Louis.
- The Islanders have a negative goal differential in every period this season. The only other teams to do that are Anaheim and Minnesota.
- One non-New York note: the team most overperforming? Florida, which is in third place in the Eastern Conference, has a -22 goal differential. Four teams have positive point differential and aren't one of their conference's top six teams: San Jose (+11), Ottawa (+10), Phoenix (+4), Los Angeles (+5).
So believe the hype about the Rangers; they are that good.
"The Numbers Game" is a Newsday app-only exclusive.
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