CALM DOWN! CALM, DOWN! That's YOU, Rangers fans and you, the panicky journalists who are mistaking a trifling, one-game "slump" for the collapse of our Statue of Liberty. Look at it this way. If Igor Shesterkin starts tonight at The Garden against the seldom-winning San Jose Sharks, your Blueshirts will have a pretty fair chance of winning. Should coach Peter Laviolette select Jonathan Quick, it's in the bag for New York. Listen up. We're not talking about the Sabres, who haven't made the playoffs since the puck was square. We're not talking about the Red Wings who haven't made the playoffs since Henry Ford's Model T. For crying out loud, we're talking about the coveted 2024 Presidents' Cup-winners. Sure there are issues. Unless your name is Winnipeg, every team has issues. It's just that in Manhattan the headlines have a bigger type. Try these challenges on for size: Stan Fischler talks about Matt Rempe. * MIKA ZIBANEJAD: What's wrong with The Once Sizzling Z? No, he's not a head case as depicted elsewhere. The guy is getting old. You wanna feel sorry for the guy? Don't. He'll either get out of his slump or joyously retire wealthier than 90 percent of you tearfully sentimental readers. (Make that 95 percent.) * THE NEW NUMBER TWO GOALIE: Igor Shesterkin either is worried about whether his new contract is going to be for $11.5 – as hinted by Kevin Weekes – or reaches to $13.5 million. Man, oh, man, that's a huge worry. OR, he's getting migraines over K'Andre Miller's puck philanthropy. Put it this way: If Iggy has many more slump games he could wind up being the permanent Number Two Goalie. (And the eager rep, Slapsy Maxie Moliver, will have to find a new client.) THE DUBIOUS DEFENSE: There's a tendency toward blaming the defense for the Poor Little Rich Goalie's woes. Norris Trophy-winner Adam Fox is in his prime and the very game Ryan Lindgren is bogged down by a Darth Vader mask. Braden Schneider and Zac Jones are just fine. Captain Jacob Trouba ain't a captain anymore even though he has the "C." True, K'Andre Miller is the most overrated Rangers D-man since Irv Spencer but K ain't THAT bad. Or, is it that he's saddled with Trouba? Tonight, Chad (Love That Name) Ruhwedel will demonstrate that he's the D answer we've been awaiting! THE GOOD NEWS: Upfront, the club has a 14-carat Breadman in Panarin, a near superstar in Big Al Lafreniere and ever-dependable Vinnie Trocheck who sees no reason to rush into high gear. Plus that nifty fourth-line headed by Jimmy Vesey is one of the best utility units between here and Manitoba. THE BIG QUESTION: Peter Laviolette has a history of fading teams in his second year behind the bench. He's got a neat – on paper – 9-4-1 record which should be 10-4-1 once the Sharks are hooked. It's Pistol Pete's job to provide wise leadership – like dump Trouba as captain – and to compensate for Mika's malaise. Who knows, maybe Lavvy has become jaded; he's been around the NHL block too long. We'll find out soon enough. THE BEST NEWS: At the expense of being redundant, let me remind the worry warts that this is a marathon not a sprint. Get it; A MARATHON NOT A SPRINT. Or, as the late, great actor Bela Lugosi asserted in the non-Oscar-award-winning "Zombies On Broadway": (with a hard Hungarian accent.) "VORRY IS BUT A FUTILE GESTURE! Rangers Fans: Dump the life rafts. That's not an iceberg ahead that The Good Ship Blueshirt is about to hit: It's the Presidents' Trophy. (Coveted, as always!)
