When it comes to the ebbs and flows of an NHL season, there are always going to be small irregularities. Typically, a team will have peaks and valleys with a correlation to the talent level. The better a team is, the more peaks there will be over the course of the season. On the other hand, a bad team will have more valleys.
The first twelve games of the season had the Rangers looking like a pretty bad team. Although they managed to squeak out two straight wins against quality opponents, that was likely the team playing above its means.