Games 21-30: Time to make a move

Throughout this season, Blue Line Station will be taking a look at the New York Rangers 2021 season in ten game increments.  In the first ten games of this season, the Rangers got 10 of a possible 20 points. For the second ten game sequence, we examined their upcoming schedule and made a projection that the team would finish with a .500 record and 10 points.  That was based on the quality of the competition  and the tough schedule they faced.  They didn’t make it, finishing the sequence with nine points.

Make no mistake about it, the schedule was tough.  They played eight of the ten games against the big four, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and the Islanders.   To make the playoffs, the Rangers face the task of beating out one of those teams, a tall order.  The only “soft” games they had in the ten game sequence were against the Devils and Buffalo and they got whupped 5-2 by New Jersey and eked out a win over Buffalo, 3-2.

Considering they lost one game they had the best chance of winning, finishing with nine points has to be seen as an achievement.   Not only that, they spent a large chunk of time without Artemi Panarin, Kaapo Kakko and Jacob Trouba.  Considering the tribulations, it could have been much worse.

Here’s how the standings look as of Wednesday night.

Standings

1. Washington  22  13-5-4     30 points
2. Islanders        22   12-6-4    28 points
3. Boston           20   12-5-3     27 points
4. Philadelphia  19   11-5-3     25 points
5. Pittsburgh      21  12-8-1    25 points
6. Rangers          20    8-9-3     19 points
7. New Jersey     18    7-9-2     16 points
8.  Buffalo           20   6-11-3    15 points

The schedule

The competition in the next ten games has to be described as “easier” if that word exists in the brutal East Division. Eight of the ten will be on the road and hostile fans will be in attendance in half of those road games so that may offset the quality of the opponents. .

That heavy road schedule is accompanied by a tough slate of opponents, slightly “easier” than the last ten games.  Face it, there are no easy games in this schedule.

They open with two games in Newark. Hopefully, a lot of Rangers fans bought tickets from their New Jersey counterparts so it won’t feel like road games.   The second game is a Saturday matinee and the team travels immediately to Pittsburgh for their first back-to-back games of the season.  The hope has to be that Sidney Crosby is still unavailable due to the COVID protocol. He made the NHL list on Tuesday.  After two games in Steel City they travel to Boston for two games.

There will be fans in Pittsburgh, but in Boston, no fans until March 22, after the Rangers are long gone.

They return to the friendly confines of Madison Square Garden for two games against the Flyers, then they hit the road to Washington for a back-to back road series to finish off the ten game sequence.

It’s a lot of hockey in a short amount of time as they play ten games in only 17 days.  They will really need the team to stay healthy and for them to get some of the players out of the lineup back in.

Expectations

So much depends on who will be playing in these games.  If Jacob Trouba and Tony Bitetto are back, that means Brendan Smith and Johnson are in the press box and that’s a good thing  If Sidney Crosby is out for the two Pittsburgh game, the odds for the Rangers increase substantially.  And of course, the X factor is Artemi Panarin.  When he returns to the lineup, the Rangers odds of winning increase substantially.

At the same time, the Rangers need to start making a move if they want to have any chance of making the post season.  That means even if they lose, they need to sneak that extra point by getting to overtime.  They’ve gotten three points when they’ve lost, a good total, but in the last ten games, they got to overtime only once in their six losses. That’s not good enough.

The next ten games are really a make or break sequence for the Rangers.  Another .500 record will mean the team is treading water and in this division, that means they will be falling behind.  The need to get points that will allow the Rangers to gain on the teams in front of them.

Of course, the key will be beating the team ahead of them, something they have been okay at. They have a 6-6-3 record against those teams.  The issue is that they have lost both of their games to the Devils, a trend they need to reverse in a hurry, starting tonight.

The prediction

For the sake of optimism, we will assume that Artemi Panarin will be back at some point next week.  With a revived offense and the continued improvement of the defense, the prediction is that the Rangers will come out of the next ten game with 14 of a possible 20 points.  To do that, they must get some losses into extra time.

Do you think the Rangers can get 14 points in their next ten games?  Weigh in with your predictions below.