Their fate does not solely lie in their hands.
The New York Rangers have reclaimed the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference — for now — with a resounding 6–1 road win against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
Saturday’s win came 24 hours after one of the club’s most embarrassing collapses of the season, as they blew a late third-period multi-goal lead against the Anaheim Ducks on Friday, losing in overtime as their continued run of poor defensive play cost them a point. Earlier in the week, New York fell to the Los Angeles Kings in the first game of their California road trip.
“Right now, it’s about collecting wins,” head coach Peter Laviolette told the media after Saturday’s win. “It’s the way we talk about it every day. We have to turn that page. We’ve got to get points. We’re still fighting and still pushing towards something.”
Here’s where the Rangers stand with eight games to play in the regular season — and a playoff berth on the line.
The teams fighting for the last playoff spot
The Rangers have amassed 77 points in 74 games played. That’s good enough for the second Wild Card spot, but they’ve also played the most games out of any playoff-hopeful team in the East.
The Montreal Canadiens and the Columbus Blue Jackets seem to be the most likely teams the Rangers will have to beat out for the last spot. They are tied for third in the Wild Card, with Montreal holding the tie-breaker. Both clubs have 75 points in 72 games. Neither team has played exceptionally well over the last two weeks. The Canadiens haven’t won since March 18, and the Blue Jackets’ only two wins since their March 9 beatdown on the Rangers have come in strange shootout victories against the New York Islanders and the Vancouver Canucks.
The Islanders are a club that committed to the future in dealing franchise winger Brock Nelson at the trade deadline, but as the calendar approaches the final weeks of the regular season, they’re still hanging around. With 74 points in 72 games and a much less potent offense than the Canadiens or Blue Jackets, New York’s suburban counterpart seems like a longshot to get in. The Islanders haven’t won since March 20, and face a difficult week with matchups against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Minnesota Wild and Washington Capitals. But don’t count them out. This is a team that surprises on occasion.
The Detroit Red Wings are the final team with a realistic shot at the playoffs, with 74 points in 73 games. They’ve struggled to string together wins down the stretch, and their next game is against the red-hot St. Louis Blues.
The Rangers’ remaining schedule
The Rangers have a few days to recharge before they return to Madison Square Garden to face the Wild on Wednesday.
From there, they play a series of home and road games against mostly playoff or playoff-hopeful teams — the one exception is the Philadelphia Flyers on April 9, which goes without saying is a must-win game given the strength of the Rangers’ other opponents.
The Rangers will play the Tampa Bay Lightning twice at home, and the New Jersey Devils, Islanders, Florida Panthers, and Carolina Hurricanes on the road. This is not an easy stretch of games. But it will show, one way or the other, if the club is worthy of the final playoff spot.
“It’s up to us to make the playoffs now,” said Brennan Othmann, who had an assist Saturday. “We just got to keep winning. We got to keep playing together as a team, and we got to finish these last eight or nine games off well and running in the playoffs.”
How New York can clinch a playoff spot
The Rangers should consider their win in San Jose a freebee. Their offense was no match for a basement-dwelling Sharks team that has the worst record in the league.
Considering how much this Rangers team has struggled to defend this season, they need to rely heavily on the play of Igor Shesterkin and the offense’s ability to score its way into the playoffs. In J.T. Miller, Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, and Adam Fox, they have the weapons to do so. And with only one back-to-back remaining, the crease is Shesterkin’s from here on out.
“We have success when we keep it simple,” said Jonathan Quick, who started and got the win on Saturday. “Forecheck and make teams defend. Playing that way from the start leads to rush chances, and three-on-twos, two-on-one, stuff like that.”
Regardless of what happens in the Rangers’ final eight games, their offseason priorities need to be fixing the defense, committing to a group of players, and deciding whether Laviolette and his staff are the right fit for the group.
The drama of this season and poor defensive structure are inexcusable for a club with championship aspirations. Winning teams rarely feature a perfectly harmonious locker room, but the environment has to be driven by an inner belief in each other and as a group in their ability to win.
