Bantering Points: 10/26/16

Rangers News:

• Brett Cyrgalis points out a scheduling quirk that has helped the Rangers succeed in the regular season over the last six seasons, and how it should continue in 16-17. (NY Post)
• Brett also reveals that Alain Vigneault received a positive review of Nick Holden from a former NHL coach when he was originally acquired. (NY Post)
• Justin Tasch relays a belief from Alain Vigneault on what he thinks has allowed the Rangers to be one of the NHL's legitimately good teams to start the season. He also offers injury updates on Chris Kreider, Pavel Buchnevich, and J.T. Miller. (NY Daily News)
• Sean Hartnett goes one-on-one with Brady Skjei, and gets into how Skjei continues to shake off his sub-par preseason as he settles in as an everyday NHL player.
• Leslie Treff offers her view on how Hockey Fights Cancer night went for the Rangers, and how it touched her personally. (NY Sports Day)
• Brian Compton, Adam Rotter, and Nick Licalzi are joined by Corey Hirsch as they have a round table discussion about Henrik Lundqvist's start to the season, Hirsch's time as a Ranger, and more. (SNY)
• Amanda Borges interviews Jimmy Vesey, and he gives his thoughts on scoring first NHL goal last week and his feelings about playing his hometown Boston Bruins for the first time. (1:13 Video via Official Team Site)
• Alain Vigneault's post-practice presser, where he discusses the team's new found success defensively, Vesey, Lindberg's season debut, and more. (3:05 Video via Official Team Site)
• Joe Haggerty notes that Malcolm Subban got pulled for the 2nd time in as many NHL games last night as the Bruins fell 5-0 at home, and Zane McIntyre may be making his first NHL start tonight (CSN New England)

Around the NHL:

• Elliote Friedman puts out his 30 Thoughts column, with nuggets about a new piece to the puzzle that is Seattle's expansion bid, and Los Angeles' attempts at fixing their goalie situation (Sportsnet)
• DTM About Heart continues his series of introducing his metrics by giving a primer on Expected Plus-Minus (Hockey Graphs)
• Jason Brough lists five early season stats that stand out, including Chicago's struggles on the Penalty Kill, New Jersey's lack of high scoring games, and (shockingly!) Colorado's inability to not get caved in on a nightly basis (NBC Sports)
• The AP noticed that the NHL sent officials to Gangneung as a means to inspect their facilities to gather more information before making a decision about their participation in the 2018 Olympics (ESPN)
• Travis Yost wondered if the league-wide increase in scoring was due to sheer randomness, or if teams are changing the way they play, and discovered that there's evidence that it may not be a coincidence /