Rangers are definitely BOTH good and hot. Sure, they may not be the favorites to win the Stanley Cup on the 20th anniversary season of their previous triumph, but the Rangers are good enough to do some damage in the Eastern Conference. We have a dominant power forward in Rick Nash who has found his game and an emerging Chris Kreider. Despite the lack of a top line center and/or winger to create a dedicated scoring line, the Rangers have compensated for that with balance and depth through four lines and three defense pairs. With that setup, the Rangers are ripe for hot streaks at any time depending on who's contributing on the score sheet.
I like most that the Rangers have a middle six than is capable of two way play and scoring when needed, Brad Richards notwithstanding. Hagelin and Callahan on the same line provide great backchecking effort to balance the puckhandling wizardry of the Pouliot-Brassard-Zuccarello trio. In essence, the Rangers have interchangeable parts in the middle six, who can adapt their roles based on opponents or game situations. Personally, I'd like to see a Hagelin-Stepan-Callahan trio once again, even if it means Richards has to play on the top line. That trio has had good chemistry in the past, and they can be used as a checking unit or a quick strike band of forecheckers who can sustain pressure in the offensive zone.
The fourth line that the Rangers are throwing out in Boyle-Moore-Carcillo is the best we've seen since the HMO in 2005-06; guess what they have in common: Dominic Moore is the glue that held the past and current lines together and he is deserving of a contract extension. Plus you can integrate the likes of Jesper Fast, Marek Hrivik, and Oscar Lindberg with Moore in the event that Boyle and Carcillo are not retained.
Finally our most pressing need is forming a legitimate first line. While Kreider can crash the corners and the slot a la Kevin Stevens/John Leclair, Rick Nash lugs the puck with authority... Stepan doesn't have the foot speed to anchor the top line, which leaves a declining Brad Richards whose passes no longer find their mark as in his prime years.
So the Rangers have to contend with a donut first line. But, everything else has gelled together to create a team that can play beyond their normal abilities come playoff time.