The New York Rangers have lost only five games since the month of February, propelling themselves to the top seed in the Eastern Conference with only 11 games left to play in the regular season. Needless to say, the Blueshirts are getting hot at the right time. Now the front-runner for the President’s Trophy, head coach Peter Laviolette wants to make sure his team is keeping their sights on the bigger picture.
“I think we will probably just go slow,” Laviolette said. “We got a couple tough games coming up… the good thing is we get a day off and then a practice day, we haven’t seen that in a long time.”
The Rangers just completed one of their most grueling stretches of the season, playing nine games in 14 days. The Blueshirts dropped just two games in that span, helping cement their spot at the top of both the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference. Such a compact schedule showed Laviolette a lot about his team.
“Our guys responded the entire time, really deserving of a day off… some rest, and then to actually have a practice is going to be good as well,” he said.
One of the major reasons why the Rangers have been able to sustain their success over the nine-game stretch has been on the defensive side of the puck. Despite injuries to Ryan Lindgren and Jacob Trouba, the reinforcements and seasoned veterans have helped pick up the slack and fill the void.
“[Fox] is so noticeable on the ice right now,” Laviolette said. “I think all of our defensemen are playing really well right now. To have a couple guys out of the lineup right now that we count on, that are a big part of our D… that’s really that next man up attitude.”
While the schedule lightens up a little bit for the Blueshirts in their last 11 games, they will be facing potential playoff opponents and teams fighting for wild card spots. This will be no time to rest as the Rangers seek their fourth President’s Trophy in franchise history. It would be their first time claiming the trophy since the 2014-15 season if they can complete the job.
