It is a good time to be a New York sports fan… unless you are an Islanders, Jets, Mets, Nets, Bills and I guess Giants fan. A few New York teams are having a lot of success, especially the Rangers and the Knicks, as well as the Yankees; All three of which are my favorite teams in their respective sport.
Rangers
The Rangers entered the playoffs as the top team in the NHL, winning the President’s Trophy given to the team with the most points at the end of the regular season. They are matched against the Washington Capitals for the first round of the playoffs and took the first game of the series on Sunday afternoon.
Sunday was a confidence boost for Rangers fans, as they won 4-1 in a dominant showing. I can say personally I was a bit skeptical entering the playoffs, that their five-on-five would slow them down; But that was not the case on Sunday.
Matt Rempe opened up the scoring, with a goal coming early in the second period. The floodgates opened up after that, as the Rangers scored two more goals in just over two minutes.
After which the Rangers did not look back.
The Rangers have a stranglehold on the series, being up 3-0 and playing tonight at 8 pm ET.
Of the previous three years the Rangers have made the postseason, I would say I’ve never been more confident than this season.
Knicks
Josh Hart has quickly become a New York icon in his two seasons here. Saturday cemented that status even more, as Hart shouldered the load during an off-game from star Jalen Brunson
The Knicks took both games in the garden and traveled to Philly on Thursday. They dropped the first game after a dominant performance from Joel Embiid.
However, I am writing this after the Knicks just took a commanding 3-1 lead in the series, as they head back to New York for game 5 on Tuesday.
MSG is not an ideal place for a road team, and that is especially true in the playoffs. As a Knicks fan, I am hoping the Knicks can finish it out at home on Tuesday.
Jalen Brunson put up a playoff career-high 47 points today in an electric performance that has Knicks fans riding high.
Yankees
At the time of writing this, the Yankees once again have the best record in baseball. Their bullpen has been the best in baseball, and overall their pitching has been stellar.
Both Juan Soto and Anthony Volpe are top 20 in the MLB in WAR, and Soto is fifth in the MLB in RBIs. Their hitting, however, has not been a plus for half of the young season.
Over the past month, as a team, they went through a bit of an offensive slump. They have since picked it up, scoring thirty combined runs in the past two games!
With that being said, the MLB needs to be terrified of a hot-hitting Yankees team. With Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Anthony Volpe, and Giancarlo Stanton all hitting, it’s a modern-day Murderers Row.
