The Rangers head to Minnesota on Thursday to conclude their brief two-game road trip, which is part of four games in five contests outside MSG. The Wild come in on a five-game win streak and 8-2 in their last 10. They sit seven points up on LA for a Wild Card spot but are just three points Chicago for third in the Central Division.
This is the second matchup of the two teams, with New York rallying from a three-goal deficit on October 27 to win 5-4. That was a much different Wild team, especially between the pipes. What saved/rescued their season was the seemingly innocuous acquisition of Devan Dubnyk on January 14 from Arizona. All he has done is start 34 straight games and gone 26-6-1 with a 1.70 goals against average and .939 save percentage. Granted, Minnesota also has Parise and Koivu and Pominville and Suter, but the Wild's fortunes has sort of started and ended with Dubnyk, who in my opinion should get some Hart as well as Vezina consideration.
For New York, now it's all about playoff positioning, going into the postseason on a roll and staying healthy. In regard to the latter, Martin St. Louis, out since March 15 with a strained right MCL, practiced Wednesday and should play Thursday. As many of us predicted, MSL is with Carl Hagelin and Kevin Hayes with Jesper Fast moving down to play Dominic Moore and Tanner Glass. This also means that James Sheppard will sit out Thursday's game.
With MSL on the "third line," it really gives AV three lines he can roll with confidence expecting offense from each. That was a hallmark of last year's squad and increases the balance of the team. As Larry Brooks wrote, MSL's defensive awareness should enables that line to see more defensive-zone starts, which should cut down Hayes' offensive zone starts, which sit at a team-high 61.8%. That also should assist the team balance, as AV will be able to deploy lines equally regardless of where the zone start is.
Like LA and Boston and Winnipeg, Minnesota plays a hard type of game. They will be physical, which is something with which New York has struggled. They did a better job against the Jets and will need to play similarly against the Wild. Minnesota may have more skilled players that Winnipeg, so New York will have to be better than they were Tuesday. The Rangers will need to use their best asset, their speed, to create chances and counter attack against the Wild.
With the Flyers defeating Pittsburgh, on the Rangers magic # to clinch over Pitt is 2. New York clinches the Metro Division and home ice in the first two rounds with a win tonight in Minnesota. If the Rangers lose, they still can clinch with an Islanders lose in Columbus and a Pittsburgh loss Saturday against Columbus.
In terms of the conference, the Rangers have one point lead on Montreal with a game in hand and two on Tampa Bay with two games in hand. Montreal's max is 112 and Tampa's 109, while the Rangers have a 115 max. Montreal has 41 ROW, Tampa 45 and the Rangers 44.
On the President's Trophy, the Ducks win last night gave them have 107 points with three games to go against weak competition. As jimbo said, those three are against weak competition, the Avs, Stars and Coyotes. If the Ducks win out, the Rangers will have to go 5-1 to win it. If the Ducks go 2-1, then 4-2 will do it for the Rangers.