The idle New York Rangers improved one slot into 6th place in the lottery standings yesterday and are actually tied for fifth place in points. While losses are discouraging, the team is in a better draft lottery position than any other time in their history.
The Vancouver Canucks and the Anaheim Ducks did the New York Rangers a huge favor on Sunday by winning against better teams. Their win moved the Canucks into seventh place in the lottery standings, one point better than the Rangers. Anaheim is now tied with the Rangers with 69 points, but they have only eight games left this season to the Rangers’ ten.
If the Rangers can hold on to 6th place overall, they would have a 7.5% shot at the top pick and 23.3% shot at a top three pick.  If they can move to fifth place ahead of Anaheim, those odds improve to 8.5% and 26.1%.
The Lottery Look
It was actually an excellent day for the Rangers when it comes to the lottery standings. The Ducks beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 in Anaheim. The loss has basically put a bullet in the Panthers’ playoff hopes as their tragic number down to 13.  The Ducks are on the upswing, winning six of their last ten and two in a row. Ranger fans should hope that they keep this up.
Vancouver won 3-2 in a shootout on the road, beating a desperate Dallas team. The Stars are three points ahead in the wild card race and really need points. Ranger fans want them to make the playoffs since they would still have an outside shot of making the Conference Finals and that would make one of the conditional draft picks acquired in the Zuccarello trade into a first rounder.
Besides the wins by Anaheim and Vancouver, both Buffalo and Colorado won their games putting some space between them and New York. Buffalo finally broke a seven game losing streak, beating the Blues in a shootout, 4-3. The victory moved the Sabres two points better than New York.
Colorado shut out the Devils 3-0 and they moved five points ahead of the Rangers and they still have slim playoff hopes as they are still four points out of a wild card spot.
The only disappointment was Edmonton’s 6-3 loss to Vegas. The Oilers remain two points better than the Rangers.
The standings (Worst is first)
Teams          GP   W-L-OTL  PT  ROW
1. Ottawa        72   25-41-6    56   25
2. Los Angeles   71  25-38-8    58   23
3. Detroit        72   25-37-10   60   22
4. New Jersey    73  27-37-9    63   25
5. Anaheim      74   30-35-9    69   27
6. Rangers       72  28-31-13   69  22
7. Vancouver    72   30-32-10   70  26
8. Buffalo       72  31-32-9    71   26
9. Edmonton    72   32-33-7    71  29
10. Chicago      71   32-30-9    73   30
11. Colorado    72   31-29-12  74   30
12. Florida       72   32-28-12  76   29
13. Minnesota   73   34-20-9   77   33
14. Philadelphia  72  35-29-8    78   33
15. Montreal     72  37-28-7    81   35
Second East Wild Card Cut Line:Â Â 84 points
Second West Wild Card Cut Line:Â Â 78 points
Who to root for
There is only one game Ranger fans should be concerned with on the schedule tonight. Both teams are dangerously close to New York in the lottery standings.
Canucks @ Blackhawks – Chicago is four points ahead of the Rangers and five points out of a playoff spot with 11 games left to play. They’ve got a five game winning streak and a win will really put though out of reach of the Rangers.  However, the Canucks just passed New York in the standings and a Vancouver win would give the Rangers a three point cushion. It’s much more important for the Canucks to pull off a road upset, but even better if they win in overtime. Root for Vancouver to pull off an unlikely win.
The Rangers are back in action Tuesday night at the Garden, hosting the Red Wings. Detroit has been dreadful lately and this is the kind of game the Rangers should win. It would be nice to get a win as the next four will be very tough games against Toronto, Pittsburgh, Boston and St. Louis, all teams with a lot to play for. Then again, a loss to Detroit will help the Blueshirts’ bottom five aspirations.
The Rangers tragic number is five. Any combination of five points lost by New York or gained by Columbus and they will join the Kings, Devils and Red Wings as teams eliminated from the post-season.