New York Rangers Daily: Glass half-full or half-empty; surgery for Kirill Kaprizov of Wild
You can be glass half-full or glass half-empty, when you look at the 4-0 New York Rangers loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
On the positive side, the Rangers didn’t lose any ground to teams ahead of them in the Eastern Conference standings. They remain three points out of the first wild card and four out of the top wild-card spot. They also closed out a resurgent month with a solid 8-3-3 record that vaulted the Rangers right back into the playoff mix.
The flip side? Well, the Rangers failed to leapfrog the idle Detroit Red Wings nor the Montreal Canadiens, who lost 4-1 at home to the Winnipeg Jets. They didn’t capitalize on the Boston Bruins losing 7-2 to the Buffalo Sabres — so the Bruins remain four up on the Rangers for the first wild card. And they didn’t close the gap on the Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators, each of whom was idle Tuesday.
Oh, and the Rangers failed again to defeat a legit playoff team, just as they did Sunday in a 5-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. It appears the Rangers are good at handling business lately against the mediocre lot they’re battling with for a playoff spot. But when it comes to defeating the better teams in the League? Yeah, not so much.
So, like anything there’s good and bad here. With 32 games remaining, there’s plenty of time for the Rangers to secure a playoff berth. But the wasted opportunities recently — after digging a big hole with that 4-15-0 stretch in November and December — do give pause about their viability as a playoff contender.
Click HERE to receive 20 percent off when you shop at Forever Blueshirts store
New York Rangers news
Costly defensive breakdowns highlight (lowlight?) our three Rangers takeaways from the shutout loss to the Hurricanes.
Peter Laviolette explained why he believes the Rangers “need (Zac Jones) here” in the NHL, as opposed to sending him to the AHL for conditioning.
Matt Rempe didn’t make a huge impact on the game against Carolina, but he’s recently cemented himself as fixture on New York’s fourth line with Adam Edstrom and Sam Carrick.
Trade rumors continue to swirl around J.T. Miller. NHL insider Darren Dreger issued a warning to the Rangers — or any other team — swinging a deal for Miller.
Before the puck dropped Tuesday, the Rangers were “curious” as to how the Hurricanes look after adding star forward Mikko Rantanen in a trade with the Avalanche.
NHL news
More on Miller: Canucks president Jim Rutherford had plenty to say about the former Rangers forward, the feud with Elias Pettersson and a possible tear down in Vancouver that could include trading captain Quinn Hughes.
Despite a flurry of trade rumors, Pittsburgh Hockey Now was told this by a Penguins official about Sidney Crosby: “Sid’s not going anywhere.”
Two-time Stanley Cup champion Brandon Saad was placed on waivers by the St. Louis Blues.
Minnesota Wild star Kirill Kaprizov will be out another four weeks following surgery on his lower-body injury.
Defenseman John Klingberg is expected to make his Edmonton Oilers debut against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
Check out this breakdown of a comic showdown between Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson and Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson.
As for the Capitals, they keep rolling along with a 3-1 win against the Flames.
Don’t look now, but here come the Islanders. Ilya Sorokin is back on top of his game and he led the Islanders to their fifth straight win Tuesday, 5-2 over the Avalanche. Somehow the Islanders are one point behind the Rangers, with a game in hand.
Miro Heiskanen left the Dallas Stars’ overtime win against the Vegas Golden Knights with what appeared to be a left leg injury. There was no update on his condition postgame.
Watch Wyatt Johnston record a natural hat trick for the Stars on Tuesday.
The Montreal Canadiens lost defenseman Kaiden Guhle with a lower-body injury in the third period of their 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
Tage Thompson and JJ Peterka each had a hat trick to power the Buffalo Sabres past the Boston Bruins.
More About:New York Rangers News
Read This Next
