New York Rangers week ahead includes chances to gain ground in playoff race
The New York Rangers may have saved their season Sunday by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 in a game they won despite being outshot 39-16. It came less than 24 hours after arguably their worst performance of the season, an 8-2 road loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
Igor Shesterkin didn’t make it through the first period in Buffalo, allowing five goals on 16 shots before being pulled 18:21 into the game. He rebounded Sunday with a spectacular 36-save effort that stole a road win.
Their task now is to build on that victory, which moved them within two points of the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference.
The schedule offers the opportunity to gain ground. Three of their next four games are against teams that enter the week outside of the playoffs, including two in seven days against the New York Islanders, who’ve lost four of their past five games, as well as a visit from the woeful Nashville Predators.
Who’s hot
J.T. Miller had two assists in the blowout loss at Buffalo on Saturday, then scored twice against the Penguins. He has four goals and eight points in seven games since the Rangers acquired him in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 31. He also had five hits against the Penguins.
Jimmy Vesey helped rescue the Rangers on Sunday with his 100th NHL goal, which tied the game 4-4 after the Penguins had scored twice early in the third period. Vesey also had an assist for his first two-point game of the season.
Who’s not
Urho Vaakanainen was a combined minus-7 in his previous two games – he was minus-3 for Finland in a 5-3 loss to Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off on Monday, then was minus-4 in the debacle at Buffalo. He failed to tie up Evgeni Malkin in Pittsburgh’s first goal Sunday, but ended the afternoon with an Even rating. The Rangers need better from him on the third defense pair.
Rangers lookahead this week includes …
Plenty of time at home, with a trip to Elmont to play the Islanders before the first three of four straight games at Madison Square Garden.
Rangers at New York Islanders (Feb. 25, 7:30 p.m. ET; MSG/MSGSN)
The Rangers make their first visit of the season to UBS Arena. They’ve split their four games at UBS since the building opened in the fall of 2021, winning their first two visits in 2021-22 and losing their lone trips to Belmont Park in each of the past two seasons.
The Metropolitan-area rivals haven’t seen each other since Nov. 3, when the Rangers won 5-2 in a Sunday matinee at the Garden. That came during the Rangers’ season-opening 12-4-1 stretch, during which they looked like the team that won the Presidents’ Trophy last season, rather than the one that’s currently playing catchup in the playoff race.
The Islanders have been battered by injuries all season and are still without their best defenseman, Noah Dobson, and their most dynamic forward, Mathew Barzal. They appeared to be out of the playoff race before running off a seven-game winning streak in late January. Then, injuries caught up with them again – the Isles lost three of their past four games before the 4 Nations break, then lost 4-3 at home to the Dallas Stars on Sunday in their first game back.
Toronto Maple Leafs at Rangers (Feb. 28, 7 p.m.; MSG/NHL Network)
The Maple Leafs and Rangers haven’t seen each other for more than four months, since the Rangers’ 4-1 win at Scotiabank Arena on Oct. 19. That victory seems like 100 years ago – the win was part of the Rangers fast start, and the Maple Leafs were still trying to figure things out.
Things have changed a lot since then. The Rangers are trying to battle their way back into a playoff spot, and Toronto moved into first place in the Atlantic Division with a 5-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.
Shesterkin’s had a lot of success against the Maple Leafs; he’s 6-2-2 with a 2.48 goals-against average and a.924 save percentage. Also, keep an eye on Toronto captain Auston Matthews. He has 10 goals and 22 points in 22 games against New York.
Nashville Predators at Rangers (March 2, 7 p.m. MSG2)
The Predators are responsible for one of the low points of the Rangers season. Nashville shut out the Rangers 2-0 at Bridgestone Arena on Dec. 17 in one of the few highlights of a dreadful season.
The Predators haven’t visited the Garden since Oct. 19, 2023, when they won 4-1. That was a game Shesterkin would like to forget – he allowed four goals on 18 shots before being lifted after two periods.
But this season has been a total disaster for the Predators, who threw big money at free agents Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei this past offseason but have gone from a playoff team to one that’s all but certain to miss the postseason. Stamkos, who played 17 seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning before coming to Nashville, is a point-a-game player against the Rangers in his career (43 points; 19 goals, 24 assists in 43 games) but is minus-21 in those games.
New York Islanders at Rangers (March 3, 7 p.m. ET; MSG/MSGSN)
The Rangers and Islanders meet for the second time in less than a week — this time at the Garden, where the Rangers have won the past four meetings between the teams. The Isles haven’t won at MSG since Nov. 8, 2022, when they defeated the Rangers 4-3 for their fifth consecutive win on Garden ice.
Artemi Panarin has enjoyed great success against the Islanders during his career, piling up 42 points (15 goals, 27 assists) in 35 games.
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