The Rangers 5-0 win over Edmonton on Sunday was more one team beating up on a team that they should beat up on rather than any sort of statement game following the Blueshirts' 4-3 loss to Calgary. There were a few good things that I will highlight below, but unsure that much different from what we knew below can be taken from the victory. What the win did do is make the Rangers 6-1 in their last seven, 9-4-1 since the Martin St. Louis-Ryan Callahan trade, keep them in second place in the division and enable them to tick another game off the schedule with points to inch them closer to locking down a postseason spot (more on that below)
Game Highlights:
What did we learn:
- When Rick Nash is on, he is really on, and when he is off, he is really off. Nash's two goals Sunday were of a differing variety. The first came after Nash was stopped on a backhand but banked a backhand off Ben Scrivens. The second was off a beautiful feed by Derek Stepan and snipe by Nash. After he was named to the Canadian Olympic team, Nash got on a roll, but he then endured a five-game drought leading up to the break. Following the break, Nash's production has come in stops-and-starts. If this game can somehow get him on a roll, the Rangers could be dangerous down the stretch and into the playoffs.
- Stepan helps make the Rangers go. His three assists last night gave him a new career-high in points with 53 while extending his career-high in assists to 38. I don't think he is ever going to be a 70-80 points scorer, Stepan could settle nicely in the 60-65 range, which to me would be more than acceptable. If he provided that offensive production coupled with his stellar defensive play and could ever find a way to be better in the faceoff circle, having him as your #1, especially if surrounded by other offensive talent, is not the worst thing in the world.
- Mats Zuccarello's hand may finally be healthy. MZA had not scored in 18 games, with his last tally January 26 against the Devils at Yankee Stadium and first indoors since January 18 against Ottawa. He had been mildly productive in that stint, notching 13 assists in that stretch, but six of those came in five games before the Olympics, meaning he had seven in 13 games since the injury. The first goal was a great deflection but the snipe was a quick snipe, one in which he just let it go, which led to think the hand is back or close to back to normal.
- Cam Talbot is just steady between the pipes. No extraneous movement, calm and collected, makes the first save and minimizes rebounds. A luxury the team needed this year. If the Rangers do make the playoffs, we will look back on Talbot's steadiness in net and play when the Rangers were struggling earlier as big reasons why that happened. Talbot was able to give Hank, who had played eight in a row and 14 of 15, a breather last night, cognizant that Lundqvist will be back in against Vancouver and Colorado to close the road trip.
- The power play, 1-for-22 and 2-for-31 before last night - still needs work. I give little credence to the goal scored by Derick Brassard, as it was a lousy play by Scrivens. As such, the PP, which was worked on extensively Saturday and whose lines were changed, is a major work-in-progress.
- The penalty kill, beyond just shutting down opponents, has become a major weapon for NY. The Rangers now are sixth in the league in killing penalties, with a 84.6% success rate. Two more shorthanded goals last night give the Rangers nine, tied for third in the league. Players like Nash and Stepan as well as Hagelin can go from D to O quickly, which provides the team an unexpected boost.
- Video sessions do work. Early in the session we bemoaned the fact that AV seemed not to use video sessions to learn the roster and remediate weaknesses. After last night's game, most of the Rangers spoke about how the coaching staff used video to point all the errors made in the Calgary game and how big of a difference that made on the ice.
The Playoff Race:
Starting with 12 games to go, scoreboard watching became the sport inside of the sport. As of March 27, the Rangers sit second in the division, 42-29-4 with 88 points. When I do a recap or game preview blog, I will include this at the bottom of the blog. However, on non-game/recap days, I will run this daily since this is a huge topic of conversation and a large component of our focus.
Sunday was a mixed day for the Rangers. It start out well as Philly carried play most of the third and OT and tied it on Vincent Lecavalier's second and 401st goal of his fine career with 20.4 left. The tying goal came as a result of some horrible own zone play by Boston on a bouncing puck that came 28 seconds after a blown call by the officials on a purported hand pass that wasn't likely cost the Bruins an empty-net, clinching marker. At least Boston won it in the shootout, but Philly is now tied in points, and technically ahead of the Rangers with a game in hand. Later, Detroit, behind the other-worldly Gustav Nyqvist, got past Tampa 3-2, while Washington fell 3-2 in overtime to the Predators and Ottawa remained on life-support with a 6-3 win over Calgary, yes, the same Flames who beat the Rangers. Monday, the Devils look to stay alive against Florida while Ottawa faces Carolina.
Division:
Philly - beat Toronto 4-2 on 3/28 and lost in 4-3 in a shootout to Boston on 3/30. 6-3-1 last 10, two games in hand on and two points behind the Rangers in third place in division. (played 38 games at home, 36 on road, three left at home, five on road, those are @St.L, Columbus, @Bos, Buff, @Fla, @TB, @Pitt, Canes)
Columbus - lost 2-1 to Pittsburgh on 3/28 and won 3-2 in a shootout over Carolina on 3/29, 5-4-1 in last 10, one game in hand, fourth in the division and fourth points behind the Rangers. Second Wild Card. (played 36 games at home, 36 on road, five left at home, five on road, Pitt, @Canes, @Flyers, Chicago, Isles, Phoenix, @TB, @Fla)
Washington - lost 4-3 in a shootout to Nashville on 3/20, 4-3-3 last 10, one game in hand, fifth in division and seven points behind NY. (played 38 games at home, 37 on road, three left at home, four on road, Dallas, @NJ, @Isles, @St.L, @Canes, Chi, TB)
New Jersey - lost 2-1 in a shootout to the Islanders on 3/29, 4-4-2 last 10, one game in hand, nine points behind NY. (played 36 games at home, 38 on road, five left at home, three on road, Fla, @Buff, Caps, @Canes, Flames, @Ott, isles, Bos) (will drop off with next loss or two)
Carolina - lost 3-2 to Columbus in a shootout on 3-29, 5-4-1 last 10, one game in hand, 12 points behind NY. (played 38 games at home, 36 on road, three left at home, five on road, @Ott, @Pit, Dal, NJ, @NYR, Was, @Det, @Phi) (likely to drop off list with next loss)
Conference (teams within 10 either way, as Boston has a lock of Atlantic division, with second, third and wild cards up for grabs)
Montreal - second in Atlantic, won 4-1 over Florida on 3/29, five straight wins, 8-2-0 last 10, one more game played and seven points up on Rangers. (played 38 games at home, 38 on road, three left at home, three on road, @TB, @Ott, Det, @Chi, Isles, Rangers)
Tampa Bay - third in Atlantic, lost 3-2 to Detroit on 3/30, 7-1-2 last 10, one game in hand and five points up on Rangers. (played 35 games at home, 40 on road, six left at home, one on road, Mon, Flames, Dallas, Tor, Flyers, Columbus, @Caps)
Detroit - fourth place in Atlantic, beat Tampa 3-2 on 3/30, one game in hand on Toronto, one game in hand and four points behind the Rangers. First Wild Card. (played 38 games at home, 37 on road, three left at home, four on road, Bos, Buff, @Mont, @Buff, @Pitt, Canes, @St.L)
Toronto - fifth place in Atlantic and lost their eighth in a row, 4-2 to Detroit on 3/29, 1-9-0 last 10, played one more game than and are six points behind the Rangers. (played 38 games at home, 38 on road, three left at home, three on road, Flames, Bos, Jets, @TB, @Fla, @Ott)
Ottawa - sixth place in Atlantic, won 6-3 over Calgary on 3/20, their second win in a row. 3-4-3 last 10, two games in hand, 12 points behind the Rangers and six behind last Wild Card spot. (played 36 games at home, 38 on road, five left at home, three on road). (likely to drop off with another loss or two, Car, NYI, Mtl, @NYR, @NYI, NJ, Tor, @Pit)
Kristyn Repke, digital media coordinator for the blue jackets, put together a breakdown of schedule strength, opponents, etc for the six teams in East battling for four playoff spots: http://t.co/fnl2eutCbs
Summary: Two huge wins over Columbus and New Jersey, followed by a gut-check win over Phoenix, solid team effort in victory over Philly, bad loss to Calgary and convincing rebound win over Edmonton. The Rangers the past several seasons have been excellent down the stretch, to lock in a spot, they may need to do the same thus year. The team is in the midst of what could be a four-game West Coast road trip from 3/28 to 4/3 with contests against Vancouver and Colorado, without Matt Duchene. Remaining games overall are three on the road and three at home in general and coming out of the last four of the season. The Rangers are going to get no help from others, so they will need to keep winning in order to make the post-season.
As downeaster wrote, and thanks to him for the schedules above, the magic number to clinch is seven, as Washington can not possibly get as many ROWs as the Rangers, thus the Rangers have the tiebreaker. They would need to go 3-2-1 if the Caps ran the table, which would put the Caps at 95 points
To me, beating Vancouver is the key. If that occurs, and while I am not hoping for this, a loss to a good Colorado team, even without Duchene, would not be a killer. Also, clinching before the last game of the season is paramount, as it allows the team to rest Lundqvist and not have to start him in the Bell Center, his house of horrors.
In order:
3/21- @ CMB - win 3-1 3/22 - @NJ - win 2-0 3/24 - Phx - win 4-3, OT 3/26 - Phi - win 3-1 3/28 - @Cgy - lost 4-3 3/30 - @Edm - won 5-0 4/1 - @Van 4/3 - @Col 4/5 - Ott 4/8 - Car 4/10 - Buf 4/12 - @Mtl
The Rangers signed another college free agent today, inking Chris McCarthy out of the University of Vermont to go with Ryan Haggerty, who they signed out of RPI on March 12. Unlike Haggerty, McCarthy will not join the …ªRangers this season, burning his first year of the three-year, entry level contract. Instead he will sign an ATO to play with Hartford.
In 38 games, McCarthy had 18 goals and 24 assists with 12 PIMs. He drew the interest of several NHL squads, including the Sharks and Blackhawks, after turning down a deal when he was drafted last year as a junior. What I like, beyond that he had interest from other very good teams and opted to sign in NY, is that he is 6’1…, 205-pounds.
The scouting report on him, thanks to jimbro for posting, says the following: " forward blessed with great hands and vision who thinks the game exceedingly well. An attribute that has really gotten the attention of scouts is his ability to play in any situation smartly and effectively. One of McCarthy’s greatest assets is his ability to anticipate and know where plays will end up, not only offensively but defensively as well. While McCarthy is a center, he has also seen time on the wing this season. Although McCarthy is known more for his superb playmaking ability, he can score goals as well. He does a terrific job of controlling the tempo of a game and makes the players around him better. McCarthy serves as Vermont’s captain, and his strong leadership has been invaluable to his team’s success this season."
All the attributes noted in that above paragraph make him a good signing. How it pans out is unknown, but the Rangers have at least upped the talent base of late with grabbing Haggerty and McCarthy, Doing so is key without draft picks this and next year due to the Ryan deal coupled with the loss of a first round this past season due to Nash trade.
The good news about the game over Vancouver tomorrow is that the emotion should be gone. The Rangers have already played against Torts and AV his former squad in Vancouver, and given how well that went last time - a 5-2 loss by the Canucks on November 30 - some payback is likely desired by Vancouver.