New York Rangers Daily: Re-set put to test, Mackenzie Blackwood lands 5-year Avalanche deal
Well, it’s time to see if a four-day “re-set” has got the New York Rangers back in a better place, when they resume their 2024-25 schedule down in Tampa Bay with a road game against the Lightning on Saturday.
Losers in 13 of their past 17 games, including a 5-0 no-show against the New Jersey Devils on Monday, the Rangers once again set about to turn things around. In the past two months, they’ve pointed to getting away and playing on the road, or the return to Madison Square Garden, or getting players back from injury, or the aftermath of trades, or closed-door meetings as the salve for their (mostly) self-inflicted wounds.
Now, it’s the “re-set,” to use coach Peter Laviolette’s word, from the NHL holiday break.
Eventually, it’s got to be something that gets the Rangers (16-17-1) headed in the right direction again.
They return from the break tied for last in the Metropolitan Division and 12th in the Eastern Conference with the Islanders. They are five points behind the Ottawa Senators for the second wild card from the East.
The time must be now to turn things around.
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Here are our three things to watch for when Rangers visit the Lightning, including Igor Shesterkin’s career brilliance against Bolts.
The Rangers are expected to have K’Andre Miller back in the lineup against the Lightning. The 24-year-old defenseman was activated from IR on Friday after he missed six games with an upper-body injury.
Speaking of Miller, outspoken former Rangers agitator Sean Avery said on the Spittin Chiclets podcast that Blueshirts need to trade the young d-man. Oh, he also stated that Laviolette should be fired.
Our John Kreiser took a deep dive into where the Rangers stand coming out of the break, how they got there, and what their chances are of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season.
In the not-too-distant future, the Rangers top two prospects should be options to help the team out. However, here’s why that time is not quite right now for Gabe Perreault and Brennan Othmann.
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This isn’t exactly the way the Vancouver Canucks want to come out of the break. They’ll likely be without star defenseman Quinn Hughes and center Elias Pettersson when they host the Seattle Kraken on Saturday. Each has an undisclosed injury.
Speaking of injuries, Dallas Stars forward Mason Marchment left a 3-2 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild after he was struck in the face by a deflected shot, and didn’t return.
The Colorado Avalanche locked up pending UFA goalie Mackenzie Blackwood with a five-year, $5.25 million AAV contract, just 18 days after acquiring him in a trade with the San Jose Sharks (for former Rangers goalie Alexandar Georgiev).
It’s looking like Alex Ovechkin could return Saturday when the Washington Capitals skate against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He’s been out more than a month with a fractured fibula, but practiced on the top line and No. 1 power-play unit on Friday.
As for the Maple Leafs, they’re without star center Auston Matthews for the fourth straight game because of a lingering upper-body injury. He also missed a 5-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday.
Mitchell Marner had a natural hat trick for the Maple Leafs against the Red Wings. Watch his three goals here.
In fact, Friday was a night for hat tricks in the NHL. Besides Marner, there were two other players who recorded hat tricks. Watch Artturi Lehkonen notch the first hatty of his NHL career in a 4-1 win for the Colorado Avalanche against the Utah Hockey Club; and here’s a look a look at Alex Tuch’s hat trick in a 6-2 Buffalo Sabres win against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The biggest game affecting the Metropolitan Division standings was played between the first-place Devils and third-place Carolina Hurricanes. Jacob Markstrom made 29 saves in a 4-2 Devils win.
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