New York Rangers: The Lottery Look, things tighten up

The New York Rangers have only five games left, but still have no idea where they will finish in the lottery standings.  They got some help from the fellow lottery teams on Saturday.

The New York Rangers were idle on Saturday and didn’t change positions in the lottery standings. They still remain 6th from the bottom of the NHL.   Right now, it looks like they will finish fifth, sixth or seventh, but a lot depends on what their rivals do.

The big game featured Buffalo and the Islanders and the result was predictable, a 5-1 blowout by the Isles.  Buffalo remains without a regulation win in over a month and have 72 points to 73 for the Rangers with only four games left.  If the Sabres continue to lose, they are a lock for fifth place.

The Devils lost in overtime to the Blues.  Though they gained a point, they have 68  and are pretty much out of reach of the Rangers.  With only three games left, if they won them all, they would finish with 74 points and the Blueshirts already have 73.

In an excellent result for the Rangers, Anaheim won on the road over the Oilers, 5-1.  That gives the Ducks 76 points with only two games to play.  That’s a three point margin (really four with the tiebreaker), though the Rangers have three games in hand. If everything goes perfectly well, the Blueshirts can keep the Ducks ahead of them.

Vancouver won over Dallas in a shootout 3-2 and now have 78 points, five more than New York.  They are almost out of reach.

Going into today’s action, The Athletic had the Rangers finishing in seventh place.  With the Ducks win, that will change.

The standings (Worst is first)

Teams                    GR     W-L-OTL    PT    ROW
1. *Ottawa               4     28-44-6        62     28
2. Los Angeles       4     29-40-9         67    26
3. New Jersey        3     29-40-10       68     26
4. Detroit                4     30-38-10       70     27
5.  Buffalo               4     31-37-10      72     26
6. Rangers              5     30-34-13       73     24
7. Anaheim             2     33-37-10       76     29
9.   Edmonton        4     34-35-9          77    31
8.  Vancouver        3     34-35-10        78    28
10.  Chicago            4     34-33-11      79    32
12.  Minnesota       4     36-33-9        81     35
11. Florida               3     35-32-12      82     32
13.  Arizona             4     37-33-8        82     33
14. Philadelphia     4     37-33-8        82     34
15. *Montreal         3    42-29-8         92     40

Asterisk means the Rangers cannot pass them in the standings.

Second East Wild Card Cut Line:  92 points
Second West Wild Card Cut Line:  85 points

Who to root for

There are six games in the NHL Sunday, including the Rangers’ match with Philadelphia.  There are only two games (other than the Ranger game) that scoreboard watchers will care about.

Blue Jackets @ Sabres – Can Buffalo win another game this season?  They  have lost 13 out of the last 14 and haven’t won a game in regulation since February 23.  They won’t win, but if they do it will be a huge help to the Rangers.   Root for the impossible to happen.

Bruins @ Red Wings – Detroit is only three points worse than the Rangers and the Red Wings own the tiebreaker.  There is still an extremely slim chance that the Rangers can pass Detroit, but it will happen only if the Rangers pretty much lose most of their five remaining games and Detroit cannot lose.  The hope still exists, so root for Detroit.

Monday  is a busy night and the Rangers have what should have been a  big game against New Jersey.  It’s still important for New York’s lottery hopes, but the Devils are out of the picture and look to finish third from the bottom.  In fact, they actually have a shot at the second worst record.