The New York Rangers dropped the first game of their three game Western Canada road trip. That could mean trouble.
The New York Rangers take a trip to Western Canada every season, taking on the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks. They lost the opener to Edmonton in one of the crazier hockey games that will be played this season. That could be trouble since the Blueshirts have developed a trend over the last five seasons.
Since the 2014-15 season, it’s been all or nothing for the Rangers when they visit Alberta and British Columbia. Over the last five years, they have either won all three games or lost all three.
The winning seasons were 2014-15, 2016-17 and 2017-18. They lost all three games twice, in 2015-16 and last season. In both losing seasons, they were able to escape with one point as they lost one game in overtime each season.
The team has responded to the Western Canada trips in many different ways. Last season the trip came after the trade deadline in an awful month of March when the team won only four of 14 games.
In 2017-18 the trip was the first three games after the trade deadline that saw the team deal Ryan McDonagh, Rick Nash and Michael Grabner. That team responded by winning all three games, though it took Henrik Lundqvist with back-to-back 50 save performances against Vancouver and Calgary.
After the trip, they reverted to form and won only four of their next 16 as the rebuild kicked in for real.
There is something to hope for after the loss to to Edmonton. They last time the Rangers lost the first game of a Western Canada trip and went on to win the last two was 2013-14. That year the trip was part of a season ending stretch that saw the Blueshirts lose only two of their last 13 games in regulation. It served as a springboard to the Rangers’ run to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Perhaps history will repeat itself this season. At any rate, it will be interesting to see how the team responds to the loss in Edmonton. It’s an important trip for the Rangers and will provide a preview of what to expect the rest of this season.