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New York Rangers: Playoff Picture/Lottery Look/WJC Recap for Sunday, January 6

By Steve Paulus

VANCOUVER , BC - JANUARY 5: Team Finland celebrates following a gold medal victory against the United States at the IIHF World Junior Championships at Rogers Arena on January 5, 2019 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Light/Getty Images)
VANCOUVER , BC - JANUARY 5: Team Finland celebrates following a gold medal victory against the United States at the IIHF World Junior Championships at Rogers Arena on January 5, 2019 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Light/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 14: Brett Howden #21 of the New York Rangers skates with the puck against Richard Panik #14 of the Arizona Coyotes at Madison Square Garden on December 14, 2018 in New York City. The Arizona Coyotes won 4-3 in overtime. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 14: Brett Howden #21 of the New York Rangers skates with the puck against Richard Panik #14 of the Arizona Coyotes at Madison Square Garden on December 14, 2018 in New York City. The Arizona Coyotes won 4-3 in overtime. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /

The Lottery Look

A lot of movement for the lottery destined teams, most of it benefited the Rangers.

Unexpectedly, the Flyers picked up a point against Calgary and are five points worse than the Blueshirts.

The Kings beat the Oilers and moved out of last place and jumped into fifth worst, only four points behind the Rangers.

When the Panthers picked up an overtime point, it meant that there are five teams with 41 points and the Rangers one of them. It also means that point-wise,  the Blueshirts are tied for ninth from the bottom.  For lottery purposes, they are moving in the right direction.

The Senators continued their losing ways and now occupy the cellar all by themselves.   Colorado must be very happy since they own the Ottawa pick from the Matt Duchene deal.  The Blues also lost which didn’t help the Rangers at all.

In other games, Vancouver lost and gained no ground on the Rangers.

The standings (worst is first)

Teams                  GP     W-L-OTL     PTS   ROW
1. Ottawa             42       15-22-5     35      15
2. Philadelphia    40       15-20-6     36      13
3. St Louis            39       16-19-4     36      16
4. Chicago            43       15-21-7      37     15
5. Los Angeles    43        17-23-3     37      16
6. Arizona             41       17-21-3      37     15
7.  Detroit             43       16-20-7      39     14
8. New Jersey      39       16-17-7      39     15
9. Edmonton        41      19-19-3       41     18
10. Rangers          40       17-16-7     41     12
11. Carolina          40       18-17-5      41     17
12. Florida            39       17-16-7      41     15
13. Minnesota     39       19-17-3      41     19
14. Vancouver     45       20-21-4       44     19
15. Dallas             42        23-16-3      48      22

Who to root for:

Blackhawks @ Penguins, Capitals @ Red Wings, Devils @ Golden Knights – Chicago, Detroit and New Jersey are all worse than the Rangers in the standings, so root for the favorites in all of these games.

Oilers @ Ducks, Hurricanes @ Senators- Edmonton and Carolina are tied with the Rangers so you want them to win….except the Canes are playing Ottawa who is in last place overall.  Since the Senators don’t look like they are going to win any games these days, root for them to beat Carolina. And if they lose, at least go to overtime.

Stars @ Jets – If the Stars keep winning the Rangers won’t be able to catch them…which is a good thing in the world of the draft lottery.  Root for Winnipeg.

How important are first round picks...by the numbers. dark. Next

If the Rangers fall ten points out of a playoff spot I am going to switch up the order of these features and lead with the lottery look.  Nothing is impossible, but to make up ten points in the standings is a tall order.  Let’s see how long they can hang on, a win in Arizona would be a good start.

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