Expectations for the next ten games
By Steve Paulus
Editor’s note: Revised to include late change to the schedule
After this story was published the NHL announced that the Rangers February 16 game with Philadelphia has been moved to February 14 and they will make up the postponed game with the Devils on February 16.
That means the three day break is gone with the team having only one two-day break in the month.
The New York Rangers have played their first ten games of the season and they finished that segment at NHL .500. The finished with a 4-4-2 record and are tied with the Sabres and Devils in fifth place with 10 points, though the Devils have a game in hand. Their season got off to a rocky start, but they finished strong.
The current standings
1. Boston 11 GP 8-1-2 18 points
2. Philadelphia 12 GP 7-3-2 16 points
3. Washington 11 GP 6-2-3 15 points
4. Pittsburgh 10 GP 5-4-1 11 points
5. New Jersey 9 GP 4-3-2 10 points
—Rangers 10 GP 4-4-2 10 points
—Buffalo 10 GP 4-4-2 10 points
8. Islanders 9 GP 3-4-2 8 points
It’s time to look at the next 10 game sequence and make some projections about how the Blueshirts will do. They will finish the 10 games all in the month of February, playing the ten games in 21 days.
If home ice matters, they will play six games at home and four on the road. They have only one back-to-back set, playing the Capitals twice over a weekend in DC. The schedule is not overloaded as they are off for three days once and two days as well. The rest of the time they play every other day.
In these days of Divisional pandemic-driven play, they don’t see Pittsburgh, New Jersey of Buffalo, but they do play the Bruins and Flyers for the first time and have rematches with the Islanders and Capitals. Here is the schedule.
The schedule
The sequence starts with a Garden match up with the Islanders. The Rangers split their first two games with the Fishsticks, getting shut out, then shutting them out. The Isles got off to a great start, winning three of their first four, but have faded since then and have dropped into last place. They are winless in their last five going into Saturday’s game with the Penguins. They are a victim of the pandemic with their last two games with the Sabres postponed with the Buffalo team hammered by COVID.
The big, bad Bruins come to town for a pair, leading the East Division with a 8-1-2 record. They have lost only one game in regulation this season and have gone to overtime in six of their 11 games. Their two games prior to playing the Blueshirts were supposed to be with the Sabres, but they were cancelled. They will be well rested when they come to New York, with four days off.
The Rangers then have three days off before they have a home-and-away with the Flyers, currently in second place in the Division. They have 16 points on a 7-3-2 record. The only thing keeping them from running away with the Division are the Boston Bruins who have beaten the Flyers twice in regulation and twice in overtime.
The Rangers then stay on the road with a Saturday-Sunday series in Washington. Hopefully the Capitals will have forgotten about the Rangers’ big win and Brendan Lemieux’s late shenanigans. By the time the Rangers play Washington on February 20, the Caps should have Evgney Kuznetsov and Ilya Samsonov back from the COVID protocol. Both missed the game with the Rangers on Thursday.
The Rangers have two more days off before ending their four game road trip with another game in Philadelphia. They conclude the 10 game sequence with two games at the Garden against Boston.
That means they play the top three teams in the East in nine of the ten games, a formidable stretch of games. It’s hard to believe, but the “softest” game on the schedule is the first versus the Islanders.
In a nutshell, the next ten games will tell us a lot about the team and could make or break the season.