The Rangers had a sweep (of a)/sweet weekend series against the Blue Jackets. New York rallied to defeat Columbus 4-2 Friday, scoring three late goals to eliminate a 2-1 deficit in the victory. Saturday, they blitzed the Blue Jackets early and then hung on thanks to fine netminding by Henrik Lundqvist for a 5-2 win.

A few thoughts on the win:
- Following the Opening night win, AV called out his top line of Nash-Brassard-Zuccarello. Mission accomplished. Zuccarello had the first and last goals Friday. Saturday, Brassard notched a goal on the man advantage. While the trio still has in my opinion a lot more they can give, it was good to see the, answer the call from their coach. The team is 3-0 and that line still hasn't really hit their stride.

- We had solid hopes for Oscar Lindberg, but I don't anyone of us could or would have predicted this start. Goals in all three games, including a pair Saturday, earning him NHL Second Star of the Week honors. To me, even more important than the goals is that his presence has balanced out to the top three lines, enabling AV to roll each one out with little hesitation.

- Many were concerned about slotting JT Miller down a line. Well, it looks like those worries were unfounded, as Miller has found immediate chemistry with Lindberg and Viktor Stalberg. In addition, that allows Kevin Hayes more time to build chemistry with Chris Kreider and Derek Stepan.

- Speaking of Stepan, hard not to be happy with his start. Two goals and an assist through three games. If he can avoid the major droughts of a year ago, a career-best season could be in the works

- There has been a decent amount written about the Chris Kreider hit on Alexander Wennberg. First, any comparisons to the Raffi Torres hit on Jakub Silfverberg should immediately be tossed in the garbage, because in no way are they directly comparable. Second, the hit did come more than one beat after Wennberg passed the puck, so I could have seen a penalty called and one likely should have. The arms and shoulder were down, so no additional discipline was warranted, which is in line with how the NHL saw it.

- Up front, the only question is when will Emerson Etem play? Jesper Fast was in the lineup the first two games. Tanner Glass got the call on the fourth line Saturday and will play Tuesday. Etem should get in before too long because keeping him on the bench does little to show if he is or is not ready. He can't be sent to the minors without passing through waivers, which won't happen. So he either gets a shot to play or sees what the Black Aces like in the coffee from the press box nightly.

- The blue line has been a mixed bag. Ryan McDonagh looks closer to his 2013-14 self, but some work is still needed. Dan Girardi scares me and all of us way too often and he needs to be much, much better in his own zone. Keith Yandle and Kevin Klein have been the Rangers' best two defenseman the first three games. Solid, not spectacular and making almost all the right plays. Marc Staal has been okay, which is fine. Overall, they have been decent, not great, and we bailed out a lot by Hank on Saturday. Maybe that was due to playing to the score and clock, but if not for Lundqvist, that game would have been a lot closer than 5-2.

- Now, Dan Boyle. Boyle's struggles were very evident last season. He was better in the playoffs but not to the point where we entered this preseason comfortable. Boyle struggled again this preseason but AV dismissed it believing that once the bell rung to start the year, Boyle would be fine. That clearly has not been the case. Boyle looks like a fish out of water in AV's system. As Larry Brooks points out, Boyle wants to carry the puck on the rush while AV system calls for quick passes out of the zone. In addition, the power play, which is where Boyle is supposed to excel hasn't gotten the requisite bump from his presence to warrant keeping him in the lineup. I wrote this preseason that the best players should play regardless of the cap hit. Boyle is a sunk cost due to his age and inability to just dump the contract. As such, if he is going to remain an albatross off the ice due to the cap hit, no need to have him be one of the ice, which is why playing Dylan McIlrath tomorrow makes a ton of sense. McIlrath was good this preseason and with the other five d-men New York has, why not play him? In addition, this prevents McIlrath from getting stale sitting on the pine.

- One comment we have always had about Henrik Lundqvist is that he loves being challenged. In addition, he is always looking for ways to be better. AV challenged him after the season to be better kicking off 2015-16. Lundqvist has responded. Through three games, he has stopped 100 of 106 shots for a .943 save percentage. That is in major contrast to his slow starts four of the last five years, including last year, when he had an .814 save percentage on 76 shots the first three games of the season.

3-0-0 for the first time since the 2008-09 season. Contributions from up and down the lineup, including a few surprises. I would like to see them draw most penalties, as they have only had four power plays in three games, and have the penalty kill look a bit better, even though they are 9-for-11 when short handed. Lundqvist is locked in and there are options on the bench if need be to fill in up front or on the blue line. It's nice to be a Rangers fan right now.

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