2012 New York Rangers

It’s been a big year for hockey in New York, as the Rangers wind down a big regular season and now hope to duplicate the feat of their NFL counterpart*, the Giants, in bringing home a championship. New York has 109 points and has clinched the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference for the playoffs that start next Wednesday. Furthermore, they did it by winning what’s arguably the toughest division in all of sports (yes, including the AL East and the SEC West). Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are the East’s two other teams with 100+ points, and New Jersey at 98, is tied with Northeast Division-leading Boston for fourth overall. Division champs are slotted in the top three seeding spots, which is appropriate, but that should never obscure just how much good hockey is played in the Atlantic. TheSportsNotebook takes a deeper look at the Rangers—how they got here, who they rely on and if there’s anything we can learn from their recent form…