New York Rangers Should Want to Play the Senators in the First Round

All of this time, New York Rangers fans have said how they have dreamed of their team going through the Atlantic Division bracket in the playoffs. With the Montreal Canadiens fumbling a bit of late and the Ottawa Senators on the rise, this could be the Rangers’ dream scenario too.

After the New York Rangers got smoked like a Cuban cigar on their home ice by the Montreal Canadiens two Saturdays ago, a lot of people were questioning whether the Rangers would be better off finishing in the first wild card slot or not.

The Rangers don’t exactly match up well with the Habs. The Canadiens went out at the deadline and picked up some big bodies such as Steve Ott and Dwight King. In theory, Ott, King and the slower Canadiens team would get out skated by the Rangers. After all, you can’t hit what you can’t catch, right?

Well, if March 4th proved anything, it’s that when the bigger team plays it right, they can get under the other team’s skin, and the other team is made out to look lifeless.

This, combined with the horrors the Rangers have experience at the Bell Centre–only 11 wins in 39 games in the building–spells disaster for the team going into the first round.

But there is another team in the Atlantic Division in the driver’s seat right now, and they are the Ottawa Senators.

A Better Matchup, a Better Path

The Senators’ six-game winning streak was snapped Tuesday night, as they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in overtime. With that said, their points streak has been extended to seven games, and now as they sit in second place in the Atlantic Division, only one point back of the Canadiens, who lost to the Blackhawks on Tuesday night, they have two games in hand and are in the driver’s seat.

The Senators are not a scary team in the slightest. They have a solid defensive unit–I mean, how could you not with Erik Karlsson on the backend? They also have a decent offense and a solid and motivated goalie in Craig Anderson.

The Rangers and Senators split their only two regular season meetings to date this season. The Senators shut the red hot Rangers offense down in a 2-0 victory in October, and the Rangers won back in December by a score of 4-3.

The Senators went out and acquired Alex Burrows and former Ranger Viktor Stalberg at the deadline. While Stalberg will help stabilize their third or fourth line, Burrows, who the team immediately re-signed to a two-year deal, has rapidly declined and is no longer the player he once was.

Wait, There’s More!

With all of that said, the Rangers should be able to defeat a Senators team who plays a very similar game in the first round a whole lot easier than they would a team like the Canadiens. Also, the additional hope here is that the Canadiens and Bruins knock the living snot out of each other in the first round, and the Rangers get the Bruins in the second round.

Next: Thoughts Through 70 Games

At the end of the day, like Derek Stepan said earlier in the season, that deciding who you’d rather play in a series is the “kiss of death.” The Rangers will get who they get and we will deal with that when the time is right, but when you look at the matchup on paper, it makes a whole lot of sense.