The Rangers play their final regular season home game Thursday against the Senators. While the game means little to New York, who clinched the #1 seed in the East and Presidents' Trophy with their win Tuesday over the Devils, the game has much bigger meaning to Ottawa, who are battling for a spot in the post-season. Boston's loss to Washington yesterday means that the Senators and the Bruins each have 95 points with 80 games played, but Boston has tie-breaker with 37 ROW.
The two teams met two weeks ago with New York blitzing Ottawa 5-1 to clinch a playoff spot. the Senators have refused to go away, going 6-2-2 in their last 10 games, including rallying from a 3-0 deficit against Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Boston's loss ended their five-game win streak, preventing them from inching closer to locking up a spot. Washington's win means they will finish second or third in the Metro, crossing them off as a possible opponent of the Rangers in round one. The Islanders have a two-point lead with the tiebreaker and two games left, so magic # is 1.
The standings heading into Thursday night, with one of these five teams to miss the playoffs: NY Islanders - 46-28-6 - 98 points, third in Metro, 3-5-2 last 10 (@Pit, CMB) Detroit 42-25-13 - 97 points, two games left, third in Atlantic, 4-4-2 last 10 (@Mtl, @CAR) Pittsburgh - 42-26-12 - 96 points, first Wild Card spot, 3-5-2 last 10 (NYI, @BUF) Boston - 41-25-13 - 95 points, second Wild Card spot, 4-3-3 last 10 (@Fla, @TB) Ottawa - 41-26-13 - 95 points, ninth place, 6-2-2 last 10 (@NYR, @PHI)
With the seventh and eighth seeds in flux, the Rangers likely won't know until Saturday who they play in round one. The next two games, the goals are to remain healthy, give some regulars a bit of rest and work on the power play. Mats Zuccarello is out again Thursday with his "general soreness," so the lineup and combinations up front are the same as Tuesday. In addition, Rick Nash is getting a day off to rest, though per AV, anyone not playing is due to an injury, so he must have a mysterious one. In his stead, Ryan Bourque was called up and be in the lineup. The lines will be in a state of flux, but we could see Fast-Brassard-MSL, Kreider-Stepan-Miller, Hagelin-Hayes-Bourque and Glass-Moore-Sheppard. If Zucc goes Saturday, it will be interesting to see which player sits, as it could be Nash again or Hayes, since it's yet to be decided if James Sheppard or Tanner Glass sits in the playoffs, so both will play and probably play a lot.
On the blue line, Kevin Klein will not play tonight or Saturday, but AV expects him to play in Game 1 of the playoffs. In addition, Marc Staal, who may be dealing with a mild shoulder issue from Tuesday's win, will also sit. Chris Summers has been promoted, and like Bourque, was able to be called up on an emergency basis because Klein is on LTIR. What is interesting is that neither Dylan McIlrath nor Conor Allen got the call in a game that means little, putting their future status in the organization at heavy risk, If StaaI goes Saturday, we could see Summers in again with someone like Dan Girardi getting a day off. Expect the bottom pairing, especially Matt Hunwick, to get all the ice time they can handle.
Between the pipes, AV seemed to indicate Henrik Lundqvist could play both games, but that isn't the way I would go. Let Lundqvist play Thursday, then Cam Talbot go Saturday. I know Hank may want the work, but why take a chance on an injury in a meaningless, especially against Alexander Ovechkin? That said, it looks like he will play both games.
It's nice to be able to watch and really have nothing to worry about in a game. I don't buy the argument of knocking one team NY could play out, since you never know what can happen in the post-season. The "real" season starts next Thursday or Friday.