The New York Rangers really are concerned with three other teams over the last nine games of the season. Edmonton was the only one of those teams were in action and they came through.
It was a wild night in the NHL with 12 games and some major shifts in the playoff picture. As far as the New York Rangers and the lottery standings, they were helped by the Edmonton Oilers who beat the Blue Jackets 4-1. The Oilers moved four points ahead of New York, though the Rangers have a game in hand.
The playoff craziness continues as Montreal shut out the Islanders 4-0 and moved past Columbus into the last wild card slot. The Avalanche beat Dallas 3-1 and combined with a Coyotes loss, Colorado moved past Arizona into the wild card slot. Insanity.
Columbus has not done well out of the deadline, as their high priced acquisitions have not gelled yet. If the Blue Jackets miss the playoffs, look out, there will be hell to pay. John Tortorella could find himself on the unemployment line again. For the Rangers, the hope is that the experience is so bad and the atmosphere is so toxic that Artemi Panarin will flee Ohio. He’d appreciate the Rangers’ organizational stability and the Russian food in Brighton Beach.
Notes from practice
As far as the Rangers go, they had a practice on Thursday. Chris Kreider and Jesper Fast did not participate. In his press available, David Quinn speculated that they may even have to shut down the pair for the rest of the season. Kreider has been playing with a sore hamstring and Fast’s injury hasn’t been specified. The Kreider injury partially explains his disappearing act.
If Kreider and Fast are out for the season the question is whether there will be any more call-ups from Hartford. They don’t necessarily have to as Boo Nieves was a scratch in the Detroit game.
Quinn also went on at length complimenting the play of Brendan Smith. He pointed out that Smith has led the team in high danger scoring chances for over the last few games. He acknowledged that on a team that likes to pass first, Smith has a nose of the net and is always thinking offense when playing wing.
It certainly looks like Brendan Smith has a role with the Rangers moving forward as a valuable seventh defenseman and fourth line winger.
How are our former Rangers faring since the deadline? Kevin Hayes has three goals and three assists in 11 games, far off his scoring pace in New York. Adam McQuaid has one goal in ten games with Columbus and has been a healthy scratch a few games. Mats Zuccarello is still recovering from surgery on his broken arm and is not due back until April at the earliest.
The standings (Worst is first)
Teams GR W-L-OTL PT ROW
1. Ottawa 8 25-43-6 56 25
2. Los Angeles 9 26-39-8 60 24
3. Detroit 8 26-38-10 62 23
4. New Jersey 7 27-39-9 63 25
5. Anaheim 7 30-36-9 69 27
6. Rangers 9 28-32-13 69 22
7. Buffalo 9 31-33-9 71 26
8. Edmonton 8 33-34-7 73 30
9. Vancouver 8 32-32-10 74 28
10. Chicago 9 32-31-10 74 30
11. Minnesota 8 34-31-9 77 33
12. Florida 8 33-29-12 78 30
13. Arizona 8 36-32-6 78 32
14. Philadelphia 8 36-30-8 80 34
15. Columbus 8 40-30-4 84 39
Second East Wild Card Cut Line: 85 points
Second West Wild Card Cut Line: 78 points
Who to root for
There’s only one game that matters to the Rangers. Then again, there are only two games in the NHL on Friday night.
Sharks @ Ducks – Anaheim still has the same number of points as the Rangers, but after this game will have only six to play (compared to the Rangers’ nine). For any hope of a fifth place lottery finish, the Ducks have to win some games. San Jose is comfortably in second place in the Pacific Division, but still harbor hopes for a first place finish. No one wants to face the red hot Golden Knights in the first round. San Jose will be in a bad mood after a tough loss to the Kings last night. Root for the Ducks to accomplish the impossible.
The Rangers travel to Toronto Saturday night, one of 14 games on the schedule.