Let’s just say that aspiring to a rank of 21st in a 32-team league doesn’t quite represent the height of ambition.
But if attaining that denotes the best showing in five years, including three seasons 30th or lower, then No. 21 signifies progress.
We are talking, of course, about the Rangers at the dots. We are talking about a perennial problem for a Blueshirts team that has not won at least half of its draws since hitting on exactly 50 percent of faceoffs in 2012-13, winning 1,410 and losing 1,410.
This season, the Rangers are up to 48.7 percent. And that is all but solely due to the estimable numbers put up by Vincent Trocheck, who at 56.2 percent was 15th in the league going into Monday night among qualifiers who have taken at least 15 percent of team faceoffs.
