New York Rangers: Back into fifth place in the lottery race
With the New York Rangers loss to the Boston Bruins, the Blueshirts slipped back into fifth place in the lottery standings. It was a quiet night int the NHL for the lottery race with the Rangers-Bruins meeting the one game of consequence.
The New York Rangers have 71 points with six games left to play, the same number as the Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo has more regulation or overtime wins (ROW’s) so a tie in points favors New York.
With only six games left on the schedule, the most points the Blueshirts could finish with are 83 and that’s only if they win every game. That pretty much guarantees that they cannot catch Columbus, Philadelphia, Minnesota or Florida in the lottery standings.
Edmonton and Chicago are comfortably ahead with five more points. Vancouver and Anaheim could use a few more points and the Ducks only have four games left to do it. The big challenge for the Rangers is Buffalo and New Jersey is lurking in fourth place, only four points worse than the Blueshirts.
The standings (Worst is first)
Teams GR W-L-OTL PT ROW
1. Ottawa 6 27-43-6 60 27
2. Los Angeles 6 28-40-8 64 25
3. Detroit 6 28-38-10 66 25
4. New Jersey 5 29-39-9 67 26
5. Rangers 6 29-34-13 71 23
6. Buffalo 6 31-36-9 71 26
7. Anaheim 4 32-36-10 74 28
9. Vancouver 5 32-35-10 74 28
8. Edmonton 6 34-34-8 76 31
10. Chicago 6 33-33-10 76 31
11. Florida 5 33-32-12 78 30
12. Minnesota 5 35-33-9 79 34
13. Arizona 5 37-33-7 81 33
14. Philadelphia 5 37-32-8 82 34
15. *Columbus 6 42-30-4 88 41
Asterisk means the Rangers cannot pass them in the standings.
Second East Wild Card Cut Line: 90 points
Second West Wild Card Cut Line: 81 points
Who to root for
Some very big games for the Rangers scoreboard watching. A couple wins will push some teams out of reach and the Rangers’ biggest rival is in action.
Red Wings @ Sabres – Buffalo is playing at home against a team five points worse. They should win, right? Think again. A Sabres win is really important for the Rangers, but Buffalo has been absolutely awful so there are no guarantees. Root for the impossible, a Sabres win.
Kings @ Canucks – Vancouver is three points ahead of the Rangers with five to play. Root for the Canucks to win at home against an inferior team.
Stars @ Oilers, Blackhawks @ Sharks – Edmonton and Chicago are five points better than the Rangers. One more win moves them seven points up, what is probably an insurmountable challenge. Roots for the Oilers to win at home and Chicago to upset the Sharks on the road.
In another note, we wrote about Bobo Carpenter as a possible undrafted NCAA player the Rangers could sign. It is not to be as he signed a two-year entry level deal with the Islanders.
Next. How different will next year's team be?. dark
The Rangers are back in action Friday night, hosting the St. Louis Blues.