Where New York Rangers fit in wild Eastern Conference playoff scramble
“It’s hard not to keep an eye on the scoreboard.”
MSG’s Joe Micheletti spoke for thousands of Rangers fans with that remark early in the telecast of their team’s 6-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night. With most of the teams the Rangers are battling in the Eastern Conference playoff race in action, it would be hard to blame those in the sellout crowd of 18,006 from keeping one eye peeled for out-of-town results.
As for the game in front of them: The groans that came when Philadelphia’s Owen Tippett scored 1:25 into the game quickly turned to cheers when Braden Schneider tied it 1-1 at 9:00 and Adam Edstrom put the Rangers ahead to stay 1:24 later. K’Andre Miller made it a two-goal game at 4:44 of the second period, and third-period goals by Filip Chytil, Adam Fox and Reilly Smith put it away.
Igor Shesterkin continued his superb play, finishing with 33 saves to extend his point streak to 6-0-1 as the Rangers improved to 24-20-4 – the same record as the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators, each of whom lost on the road when the Rangers were winning at home.
The victory against the Flyersextended the Rangers’ point streak to 10 games (7-0-3). The Rangers are off until the Colorado Avalanche come to town Sunday afternoon, so you can bet that they’ll be eagerly following the out-of-town action the next couple of nights. The Carolina Hurricanes visit on Tuesday, and the Rangers then get three days off.
They’ll need them, because they begin a stretch of five games in eight days before the 4 Nations Face-off break when they visit the Boston Bruins on Feb. 1.
Here’s a look at the playoff scramble in the East (all records through Thursday’s games):
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Metropolitan Division top three
None of the top three teams in the Metropolitan Division look like they’ll be threatened by anyone below them. The Washington Capitals are the leaders in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy, the Carolina Hurricanes are second in the division and the New Jersey Devils trail them by three points.
The third-place Devils lead everyone else in the division by at least seven points, although starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom is out 4-6 weeks with a sprained MCL. Markstrom was injured and had to leave early in the second period of New Jersey’s 5-1 win against the Bruins on Wednesday; Jake Allen finished the game and will be relied upon to carry the load in Markstrom’s absence.
The 34-year-old should be back before the playoffs but this next month could prove interesting. If the Rangers remain hot and the Devils falter without their No. 1 goalie, a top-three spot in the division is not out of the question for the Blueshirts, who have two games in hand on their Hudson River rivals.
Ahead of the Rangers (current wild cards)
Tampa Bay Lightning (25-18-3, 53 points)
A 2-0 win over the visiting Senators nudged the Bruins (24-20-6) into third place in the Atlantic Division, behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers, and dropped the Tampa Bay Lightning into the first wild-card spot. However, the Lightning have four games in hand on the Bruins and at least two on all the other playoff contenders as they prepare for back-to-back road games Friday against the Chicago Blackhawks and Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings.
Tampa Bay is coming off losses at Toronto and Montreal earlier in the week, but their .576 points percentage is sixth in the conference, and it’s hard to believe they won’t end up in the top three in their division. The Rangers lost 6-2 at Tampa Bay on Dec. 28 and play the Lightning twice in the final 10 days of the season; they edged the Bruins 2-1 at the Garden on Jan. 2 and go to Boston a week from Saturday before hosting them four nights later.
Columbus Blue Jackets (23-19-7, 53 points)
Columbus dropped from the first wild card to the second after blowing a 2-0 lead in Raleigh on the way to a 7-4 loss to Carolina on Thursday that completed a 1-2-1, six-day road trip – including a 1-0 shootout loss to the Rangers on Jan. 18. The one win was a 5-1 victory in Toronto on Wednesday, with hometown boy Adam Fantilli getting his first NHL hat trick.
But the Blue Jackets can keep their suitcases packed; after a home game against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, they’re back on the road for four more games, beginning Jan. 30 against Vegas. Their last game before the 4 Nations break is against the Rangers on Feb. 8. Columbus comes to the Garden again on March 9 and hosts the Rangers six nights later.
Now’s a good time to point out that the Blue Jackets are 7-14-4 on the road this season.
Even with the Rangers
Montreal Canadiens (24-20-4, 52 points)
Even with a 4-2 loss at Detroit on Thursday, the Canadiens are 10-3-2 since the Christmas break – including a 5-4 overtime win against the Rangers at Bell Centre this past Sunday. The Canadiens, seeking their first playoff berth since losing to the Lightning in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, have come together under former Rangers forward Martin St. Louis after a 5-11-2 start that looked like it would doom them to another early summer.
The Rangers were 2-0-1 in the season series, winning 7-2 in Montreal on Oct. 22 and 4-3 at MSG on Nov. 30 before the OT loss.
Ottawa Senators (24-20-4, 52 points)
The Senators were on a 5-0-1 run before their offense disappeared in the past two games; they were shut out 5-0 at the Garden on Tuesday before being blanked in Boston on Thursday. Though this won’t help the offense, Ottawa is hoping that No. 1 goalie Linus Ullmark, who’s been out injuring his back Dec. 23, will be ready to return shortly. Rookie Leevi Merilainen preserved the Senators playoff chances with a 6-3-1 record and two shutouts in Ullmark’s absence, but he struggled in his past two games and could be headed back to the AHL when Ullmark is ready to go.
New York defeated Ottawa 2-1 on Nov. 1 in their only meeting before this week’s win; New York makes its lone visit to Canadian Tire Centre on March 8.
Behind the Rangers
We’ll assume that the New York Islanders (45 points) and Buffalo Sabres (41), who are last in their respective divisions, have too few points and too many teams in front of them to have a realistic chance at the postseason. But there are three other teams that begin Friday trailing the Rangers but still hold realistic playoff hopes.
Philadelphia Flyers (22-21-6, 50 points)
The Flyers’ loss at the Garden on Thursday dropped them two points behind the Rangers, with New York also having a game in hand. The loss also ended a 5-0-1 run by Philadelphia after the Flyers looked like they might be falling out of the race two weeks ago.
Thursday began a busy stretch for coach John Tortorella’s team, which visits the Islanders on Friday, has a home-and-home against the Devils and hosts the Islanders on Jan. 30 – that’s five games in eight days. The Rangers don’t see them again until the Flyers come to the Garden on April 9.
Detroit Red Wings (22-21-5, 49 points)
The Wings are still looking to host their first playoff game at Little Caesars Arena, which opened in the fall of 2016, but it’s going to be an uphill battle. Detroit ran off a seven-game winning streak under new coach Todd McLellan, then was 1-3-1 in the next five games before defeating the visiting Canadiens on Thursday.
The Red Wings have home games against the Lightning on Saturday and the Kings on Monday before a swing through Western Canada and Seattle. The Rangers swept the three games between the teams in a season series that ended before Veterans Day, outscoring the Red Wings 13-3.
Pittsburgh Penguins (20-22-8, 48 points)
The Penguins have three games remaining on their marathon seven-game road trip that will take them through the end of January. They followed up one of their best efforts of the season, a 5-1 whipping of the Kings in Los Angeles on Monday, with a 5-1 clunker Thursday against the Anaheim Ducks, a team all but assured of missing the playoffs for the seventh straight season. That loss dropped the Penguins two games below NHL .500, and they likely need to win at least two of the remaining three to stay in the hunt.
The Rangers are 2-0-0 against the Penguins, winning 6-0 in Pittsburgh on opening night and 4-2 at the Garden on Dec. 6. The teams play again at MSG on Feb. 7 and in Pittsburgh on Feb. 23.
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