Rangers clicking at right time entering 2-game set against Hurricanes

NEW YORK --Six goals on six shots in about 11 minutes. Thirteen goals, none against, in a weekend back-to-back sweep, 6-0 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday and 7-0 against the Nashville Predators on Sunday. Fifteen unanswered goals in a span of seven periods.

It's fair to say the New York Rangers are clicking at the right time, scoring and playing like the team that on paper looked like an unstoppable offensive force as soon as they traded for forward Patrick Kane to join an already elite forward group three weeks ago.
"New guys are starting to get more comfortable with their linemates and more comfortable with just being in New York," defenseman K'Andre Miller said after his first four-point NHL game (two goals, two assists) Sunday. "With that comfort comes chemistry and builds that team camaraderie that we're looking to build in this run toward the playoffs."
The test gets stiffer this week. The Rangers, third in the Metropolitan Division and five points behind the second-place New Jersey Devils, have a home-and-home series with the first-place Carolina Hurricanes. They'll be at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG, BSSO, ESPN+, SN NOW) and PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday.
The Hurricanes, who lead the Devils by one point and the Rangers by six, have been teetering a bit of late with three losses and 19 goals against in their past five games, but are still arguably the toughest team to generate offense against in the NHL.
Though the Hurricanes are second in goals-against per game (2.57) and first in shots-against per game (25.8), the Rangers have already scored 11 goals in two games against them, this season, a 5-3 win at home Jan. 3 and a 6-2 win in Raleigh on Feb. 11. That was before they had the chemistry with their forward lines that they have now and the feeling of invincibility offensively.
"The first thing is to realize it's not going to be six or seven every night but having that said it's just the confidence of knowing that we can score," said Mika Zibanejad, whose 37 goals lead the Rangers. He has five in an active four-game goal scoring streak.

"I don't think, especially the last two games, we've been cheating for offense or abandoning the 'D' zone just to play offense. I think we've been doing it the right way. We have the confidence. We have the feeling in here that we know that we can score. If we do a good job defensively, if we do a good job with everything that we've been saying, managing the puck, making sure we do the little right things and we're creating those good habits, that's a big thing for your confidence to know you can score and we score the right way."
That was the beauty of the win against Nashville on Sunday.
The Predators had some scoring chances early in the first period, requiring goalie Jaroslav Halak to make some important saves, but the Rangers didn't have forwards leaving the zone quickly or defensemen pinching too far down the walls.
They were steady. They scored on six straight shots in a span of 10:59 in the first, five in 10:01, but didn't lose focus or stray from the game plan. The Predators, undermanned with key players out because of injuries, couldn't push back because of how the Rangers played.
"I can't remember a game we played that well," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said.
Gallant and the Rangers knew it would take time for things to mesh after they acquired Kane from the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 28 and put him in a top six that already featured Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck and Vladimir Tarasenko, who was acquired from the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 9.
They initially tried to recreate the chemistry Kane and Panarin had seven years ago when they were dominant together playing on the same line for the Blackhawks. They put them on Trocheck's wings, but it didn't click.
Kane didn't demand the puck like he did for 16 years in Chicago. He was too passive. Panarin didn't look to shoot either. Trocheck, a straight-line player, appeared caught in between.
It wasn't until the third period against the Penguins on March 12 that Kreider was put with Kane and Trocheck. Panarin had already shifted to play with Zibanejad and Tarasenko earlier in the game.
The Rangers lost 3-2 in overtime, but the new line of Kreider, Trocheck and Kane scored the game-tying goal in the third period. They're 4-0-0 since and the top-six forward group has 35 points (14 goals, 21 assists), including 30 at even strength (11 goals, 19 assists).
RELATED: [If the playoffs started today ...]
Zibanejad, Panarin and Tarasenko have 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists); Trocheck, Kreider and Kane have 15 (five goals, 10 assists).
"I wouldn't say it's a bonus, but scoring this many goals, it gets all the lines going," Zibanejad said. "But we're creating chances the way we want to create chances. We're doing a lot of good things. We're making good decisions with the puck. We're supporting each other."
Zibanejad said he can tell that each group of linemates is communicating well with one other.
"When every line gets to play together more you get to talk to each other," he said. "How do we want to play? How can we be most successful out there? How can you use your linemates and the understanding of what qualities you have to make this work in a good way? The more and more you get to play together you get a better understanding of how you can use each other's strengths and put each other in a good spot. That's the way we've been playing, all the lines and the 'D' pairs."
Everything Zibanejad said was expected when the Rangers got Kane three weeks ago. The concern was how long would it take to get there and how many bumps along the way would they encounter?
There were a few, even in wins against the Montreal Canadiens (4-3 in a shootout March 9) and the Buffalo Sabres (2-1 in OT on March 11). But the ice smoothed in the past week and the goals piled up, fueling confidence going into a pair of games against the Hurricanes.
"We have a lot of talent, a lot of ability to be able to make plays when we get chances, so just stick with it," Kane said. "We're building chemistry. We're building it every day, every game."