GLENDALE, Ariz. — This is when a long season becomes painful for weaker teams that managed to harness enough early adrenaline and belief to be at least moderately successful before Thanksgiving but just aren’t blessed with enough of the right stuff to be a long-term factor.
The last few weeks have provided a flashback to last season for the Rangers — a harder-working group, for sure, but not appreciably stronger in its own end, coming through the neutral zone or below the offensive zone hash marks. This team has a greater presence and has more on-ice camaraderie — and that’s not nothing — but is settling into the long, hard winter that had been projected.