Just two games into the season, in which the Rangers smashed the brains out of the Lightning and Wild, people were ready to declare the next step firmly "taken."

After all, they'd brought back most of the team that went to the Eastern Conference Final and kinda-sorta made it a series against the then-reigning back-to-back champions. And many of the players they brought back were either elite talents or younger guys with strong draft pedigrees. What reason could you have had for concern, especially after they combined to outscore those two highly regarded opponents 10-4, with the expected goals and territorial advantage being strongly in their favor?

Well, how about the fact that they were one of the most successful power-play teams in recent memory last season, or needed one of the best goal