The New York Rangers had the night off, but nine other lottery teams were in action and the results of some of those games were very good for the Blueshirts. They started the night 11th from the worst team in the league. They finished the night eighth.
This won’t be the first night that the New York Rangers will see a big drop in the lottery standings. The race is so close that we will see nights like this until the season concludes. But this was a big night for the Rangers as they dropped from 21st to the 24th best record in the NHL.
How significant is it?  According to tankathon.com, the team with the eighth worst record has a 16% chance of snaring a top three pick.  The team with the 11th worst record has a 9.9% chance. That’s significant.
The Lottery Look
We will start with the three teams that displaced the Rangers in the standings.
Surprise, surprise. The Colorado Avalanche upset the Jets 4-1 in Winnipeg. If the Jets keep this up, Jeff Gorton’s phone will be ringing soon. With the win, the Avalanche passed the Rangers and moved from 9th worst to 11th place.
The Blackhawks trounced the Devils 5-2.  With the win, Chicago moved a point ahead of the Rangers, but have played two more games.  The Devils remain the second worst team in the NHL.
The Panthers pulled off another upset, beating the Flames in a shootout, 3-2. With the win, Florida has the same number of points as New York, but have more ROW.
Detroit beat the Senators 3-2 and moved to within three points of the Rangers and passed the Kings in the standings.  Ottawa remained mired in last overall and it looks like they may stay there.
St.Louis won their 8th game in a row, beating the Coyotes 4-0. Arizona remains only one point behind the Rangers. The Coyotes were the only real disappointment for the Rangers tonight.
In the late game, the Canucks scored in the last two minutes of regulation to force overtime against the Kings. They went to a shootout and Vancouver won 4-3.  Overtime was helpful as it gave the Kings a point and they crept to within four of the Rangers. With the win, Vancouver is now three points better than New York. More important to them, they are tied with Minnesota in points for the last wild card slot, but the Wild own the tiebreaker.
The standings (Worst is first)
Teams           GP   W-L-OTL  PTS  ROW
1. Ottawa        57   21-31-5   47   21
2. New Jersey    57   21-28-8   50   20
3. Los Angeles   57   23-28-6   52   21
4. Detroit        58   23-28-7   53   21
5. Anaheim      57   22-26-9   53   19
6. Edmonton    56   24-27-5   53   21
7. Arizona       57   25-27-5   55   23
8. Rangers       56   24-24-8   56   18
9. Florida        56   24-24-8   56   21
10. Chicago      58   24-25-9   57   23
11. Colorado     57   23-23-11  57   23
12. Vancouver     59  26-26-7   59   23
13. Philadelphia  57  26-24-7    59   24
14. Buffalo      56  28-21-7    63   24
15. Carolina      57  29-22-6    64   28
Who to root for
Four games in the NHL on Friday, highlighted by the Rangers visit to Buffalo. The incentive for Buffalo is that they need to keep pace with the Penguins for the wild card.
Oilers @ Hurricanes – Two lottery teams battle for playoff spots. The Hurricanes are eight points ahead of the Rangers while the Oilers are three points worse. Root for Edmonton.
Devils @ Wild – New Jersey is three points out of last overall and are showing no indication that they be improving. Hope for a New Jersey win.
Bruins @ Ducks – Anaheim is three points behind the Rangers and still harbor playoff hopes. They won their last game, so may be their season will turn around. A Ducks win will help the Blueshirts.
The Rangers have settled into this schedule of playing on the slow nights and off when there are a lot of games. That creates room for improvement in the lottery standings, much like what happened Thursday.  Saturday there are 11 NHL games with 11 lottery teams in action.