They are obviously well-balanced offensively with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marian Hossa, Ryan Malone and Peter Sykora among others. Like we've said before, not too many teams have two great offensive lines. And they have lots of sandpaper beyond that. Sergei Gonchar has been a rock on defence and Marc-Andre Fleury was terrific in net, giving up just five goals. Special teams were also outstanding and when they had the Senators down, they put them out of their misery, another good sign. They showed plenty of poise against Ottawa and a willingness to rough it up when necessary.

Their overall defensive play is tremendous and Henrik Lundqvist was great in goal against New Jersey. When the Rangers struggled early, coughing up the puck and being uncharacteristically sloppy in their own end, Lundqvist gave them a chance and the Rangers proved opportunistic. Jaromir Jagr looked like his old self, as did Scott Gomez, whose speed was a difference maker. Sean Avery, love him or not, makes an impact on games and makes big-time plays. He is a key to this team's success. They also showed they have great depth, can play it tight if necessary, but have a better attack than what we saw during the regular season. The layoff is just about right.