Penalty Kill

Hey folks - sorry - I (Dave Pucks) was away the past 2 days - but as you could tell - my co-blogger Nugman was fast and furious with the game day blogs in my absence.

I just wanted to check in here to take an early look at special teams -specifically - the penatly kill. This is a stat the Rangers led the league in last year - not giving up goals on the Penalty Kill an amazing 87.8 percent of the time.

As you all know - Blair Betts was a lynchpin in that penalty kill - but here's no longer here. First Donald Brashear nearly removed his head - and then the Rangers removed his body - from the team. Happily for Blair - he found a home on the Flyers - which will make the first Flyers game at MSG interesting to say the least.

Anyway - without Betts - in the ridiculously small sample of two games - the Rangers have killed of 5 of 6 penalties - for an 83.3% success rate. Not that far off last year's pace.

The Flyers with Betts? They've killed off 12 of 13 for a 92.3% success rate.

Like we said - it's way early - but so far the "Betts Factor" is favoring the Cheese Steaks.

We'll keep our eye on this one. More tomorrow morning.