Beware the first game back from the bye week

The All-Star break jinx

Before the bye week was introduced, the one schedule break in the season was for the All-Star game.  If you think the Blueshirts’ record is  bad after bye weeks, consider this.   The Rangers have lost six games in a row coming out of the All-Star break. That streak includes last season’s combined bye week and all-star break.

In January 2018, the team was off for five days in a row from January 26-31.  They were coming off a road win in San Jose.  After the break they lost four games in a row, being outscored 21-7.

It was after the fourth loss, a 6-1 defeat to the Boston Bruins that Glen Sather and Jeff Gorton sent “The Letter” to the fans, announcing the rebuild.   Still in contention for the playoffs at the break, if the team had come out of it on  a winning streak, the letter may have never been sent and the team would be in a very different place.

The litany of losses after the All-Star break included three in a row from 2015 to 2017.   They lost at home to Columbus in 2017 and lost on the road to the Devils in 2016 and the Islanders in 2015.  In all thee circumstances, they had gone into the break on a high note.

The team had six days of from January 25-30, 2012 and went into the break on a two game winning streak.  They played the Devils in their first game back in Newark and dropped a 4-3 shootout decision.

One of the worst post-All Star performances in the last decade came in 2011.  After a six day layoff having won two of three going into the break, they dropped a 4-3 decision to Pittsburgh by shootout and then proceeded to go on a five game losing streak.

The record after All-Star breaks?  0-6.   The Olympics are another story.