Playing without pressure is a luxury the New York Rangers really will be able to enjoy when they play at Madison Square Garden for the final time this season.
With just one game remaining after tonight – Saturday’s tilt at the Pittsburgh Penguins – and with no postseason hockey for the second consecutive year, the New York Rangers will just have pride to play for later and the chance to put on a show for RangersTown.
Head coach David Quinn spoke pregame about how important it is to carry momentum heading into the offseason, and there is no doubt that he will be demanding 100 percent effort from his players both tonight and on Saturday.
“How this season ends, you’re going to carry through the summer. So let’s take advantage of our opportunity tomorrow night.”#NYR Coach Quinn talks about tomorrow’s final home game vs. Columbus. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/ux7PhECadw
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) April 4, 2019
And why not?
There are roster spots up for grabs heading into 2019-20 and there are more than a handful of players who need to prove that they deserve to be a long-term piece of this rebuild.
One such player is young defenseman Ryan Lindgren, who was recalled from the Hartford Wolf Pack on Thursday.
Lindgren, who made his NHL and Rangers debut on Jan. 15 vs. the Carolina Hurricanes, has skated in 63 AHL games with the Wolf Pack this season, putting up 12 assists and he also ranks tenth among AHL defensemen in penalty minutes in 2018-19 with 92.
The 21-year-old now has the opportunity to showcase his talent on the big stage and show Quinn why he deserves to be fighting for a top six role on the blueline come training camp.
There are also milestones to be achieved with the most notable one of course being Henrik Lundqvist’s mission to accomplish 450 wins.
The King needs just one more win in order to further etch his name into the history books and he could get at least one more chance this season to reach the magic number.
With Alexandar Georgiev starting tonight, the question is whether or not Lundqvist will have a chance to secure the milestone win on Saturday.
Players like Ryan Strome and Brett Howden have been playing with a hot hand of late with the latter taking a four-game point streak (one goal, four assists) into the loss against the Ottawa Senators.
To put it simply, the New York Rangers may have nothing to play for in terms of meaningful wins or standings, but there is still a lot at stake in these final two games and they have the perfect chance to bid a fond farewell to Madison Square Garden until next season.
On the other hand, the Columbus Blue Jackets will be carrying a boatload of pressure on their shoulders into tonight’s Metro Division match-up.
Scrapping for their playoff lives, the Blue Jackets simply have to leave the Big Apple with a win and they will look to compete hard from the very first drop of the puck.
Locked in a battle with the Montreal Canadians for the final wild card spot – the Hurricanes and the Penguins still need to lock up their berths too – Columbus can ill afford another slip-up like the one they suffered against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday, a 6-2 loss snapping a five-game win streak.
They do enter tonight knowing that they control their own destiny, however, with a win enough to clinch a playoff berth following a loss for the Canadians on Thursday.
With so much on the line for the Blue Jackets, there will be a playoff like intensity in the Big Apple tonight and the Rangers owe it to their fans to give them a fitting sendoff.