The Rangers kick off back-to-back contests with a home game against the hottest team of the league, Columbus. New York then heads through the Lincoln Tunnel to again face the Devils, who they defeated Saturday 6-1. The Blue Jackets, who have given the Rangers fits in the past but are 1-2 against them this year, enter the game on a nine-game winning streak and are 13-2 in their 15 contests.
Four games left, 78 done. While a playoff spot and first place in the division have been clinched, there are a still few keys, areas of focus or things for Rangers to play for down the stretch. To me, here they are:
Health: The playoffs are a battle of attrition. We know that players will get bumps and bruises and unreported or misreported injuries. The team that can stay relatively the healthiest has an excellent chance of winning. As such, going into the playoffs healthy is a step in the right direction.
For New York, the season has had a decent amount of injuries. This includes Ryan McDonagh, Dan Boyle, Henrik Lundqvist, Kevin Klein and Martin st. Louis. Up front, with minimal depth, the health of the top-nine will be something to watch in the playoffs. On the blue line, Matt Hunwick has experience, but you clearly want to top-six to be in the lineup.
Saturday was the 12th consecutive game Klein has missed since suffering a broken left arm on March 11, when he took an Alex Ovechkin shot in the forearm. The good news is Klein has been skating for the past week or so, and there is a possibility he returns to action this week, either Thursday or Saturday. Once he has an X-ray and presuming it shows the fracture has healed. he can stickhandle, which would then lead to a practice and activation.
Playoff Positioning: With the bottom part of the East still in flux, the Rangers don't know their opponent in round one. As such, the goal now is to maintain their strong level of play with focus on who they play to come soon. Because they look to have four full days off between the end of the season Saturday and reported start of the playoffs Thursday, the coaching staff will have some extra time to break down their first round foe.
As such, the main focus, beyond health, is playoff positioning. Three more points and the team cliches the East over Montreal and Tampa Bay. Four more and the President's Trophy is theirs, beating out the two from the East as well as Anaheim, St. Louis and Nashville. if NY goes just 2-2, the two wins will give them 52, tying the 93-94 team for most in a season in franchise history.
Chemistry: The lines have been juggled a few times this year but AV seems to have settled on the current trios. St. Louis return has reshaped the bottom-six positively. Now, you want to see J.T. Miller continue to build on the success he has had on the All-American line with Derek Stepan and Chris Kreider. Same for MSL now with Kevin Hayes and Carl Hagelin. Dominic Moore, who scored twice Saturday, has played with several linemates, as Brooks points out. Moore has been on with Tanner Glass 55% of the line and Jesper Fast a third of the line. Getting the fourth line solid work together over the last few games to build up the chemistry that was so evident in last year's playoffs with Moore, Brian Boyle and Derek Dorsett/Dan Carcillo should be a key.
You would like Klein to have a game or two to scrape off the rust and rebuild chemistry with his pairing. McDonagh and Dan Girardi are pretty set. AV could keep Keith Yandle with Marc Staal and play Klein with Dan Boyle. To me, that might be the best solution, though Klein's return does allow some mixing and matching and give AV the righty-lefty balance he likes. That could mean Staal with Boyle and Yandle with Klein.
Balanced Scoring: As the aforementioned chemistry builds, we should see even more balanced scoring. That was evident Saturday when 13 players tallied a point, as only Miller, Hayes, Hagelin, Boyle and Hunwick failed to score. The top three lines should each be able to contribute. Plus, if the fourth line plays as it did against NJ, that is a huge boost.
On the blue line, McDonagh has a four-game point streak in which he has six assists. Yandle has a goal and seven assists his last eight games. Klein has shown the ability to score big goals while Boyle, who has struggled this season, still can produce occasionally. The D is usually counted on to trigger the O with a pass not necessarily be big scorers, but in McD and Yandle, the Rangers have two weapons from the blue line.
Special Teams The power play has shown some signs of life lately. We would still like to see more shots on goals and better puck movement, but as Yandle settles in, you would expect the power play to improve. While the PP is still a major work-in-progress, the penalty kill has been stellar.
From the Rangers pre-game notes: The Blueshirts are tied for fifth in the NHL on the penalty kill this season (84.6%; 192-for-227) The Rangers have not allowed a power play goal in seven of their last eight games (21-for-22; 95.5%) and in 10 of their last 12 games (30-for-32; 93.8%). The Blueshirts are 40-for-43 (93%) on the penalty kill over the last 15 games and are 47-for-51 (92.2%) on the penalty kill over the last 18 contests.
All those numbers are top notch. The Nash-Stepan, Hagelin-Moore pairings have been very good, as seen above. In fact, as Larry Brooks points out, the Nash-Stepan duo, which is the second pairing, have not been on ice for a PPG against since Feb. 19, a span of 21 games.