The Rangers head to Vancouver off a dominant 5-0 win over the Oilers. As I wrote yesterday, the good news about the game against Vancouver today 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 may be desired by Vancouver. The Canucks have their own issues, and if believe what Larry Brooks wrote today, former Rangers and current Vancouver coach John Tortorella could be on the outside looking in for 2014-15 due to his inability to change his style to suit the current personnel. But that is Vancouver's issue and all that matters tonight is that the Rangers get the needed two points.
Coming off the win, one would have expected minimal changes, but how wrong we likely are. Even though we didn't love Daniel Carcillo on the first line, New York still scored five goals, so why mess with success? But messing is what they will do given how the lines were configured in practice yesterday.
Here are the lines against Edmonton:
Dan Carcillo-Derek Stepan-Rick Nash Carl Hagelin-Brad Richards-Martin St. Louis Benoit Pouliot-Derick Brassard-Mats Zuccarello Brian Boyle-Dominic Moore-Derek Dorsett
Here is what could be the lines tonight against Vancouver:
Carl Hagelin-Derek Stepan-Rick Nash Brad Richards-Dominic Moore-Martin St. Louis Benoit Pouliot-Derick Brassard-Mats Zuccarello Dan Carcillo-Brian Boyle -Derek Dorsett
What you have now done is left one of the four lines intact and shaken up the other three. The fourth line, which has been so good together and a reason for the success of the team lately, has been shuffled with Carcillo sliding down and likely D. Moore sliding up, though Derek Dorsett could end up on the second line. Hagelin is moving up to replace the speed lost by Chris Kreider's absence on the top line, though he lacks the size and grit to fill that gap. Moore is moved up to play with St . Louis in the hopes that the former Lightning center can jumpstart St. Louis. My view on this is stop!! Stop trying to restart St. Louis' game; let the game come to him instead of shaking up all the lines. St. Louis was engaged Sunday and had a good game despite scoring. Eventually he will breakthrough, but the more you force feed the action in order to focus on the needs of one player, regardless who that is, the more you adversely affect everyone else and heap additional pressure on him. In addition, this highlights that AV doesn't think JT Miller is ready and how our calls for more depth at the deadline that went unheeded could come back and haunt this team down the stretch and in the playoffs.
Defensively, the same six will remain together while Henrik Lundqvist is back between the pipes as expected following his game off Sunday. John Moore is inkling closer in his return from a concussion, but he still needs a practice or two to be ready. The question is who sits, and to me, right now, if anyone sits, it should be Anton Stralman and not Kevin Klein or Raphael Diaz, who has been good stepping in for Moore.
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.
Monday, the Devils kept their hopes alive with a 6-3 win against Florida while Ottawa won their third straight to remain in the hunt with a 2-1, shootout win over Carolina. Tuesday, NJ faces Buffalo, Calgary can put another nail in the coffin for Toronto as the Maple Leafs try and avoid their ninth straight loss, Dallas is at Washington, Colorado is at Columbus, Montreal is at Tampa Bay (which really matters for second and third in their division and minimally for playoffs, as they are 12 and 10 points up on the ninth-place Capitals) while the Flyers take on the Blues. In a perfect world, Buffalo, Calgary, Dallas, Colorado and the Blues win along with the Rangers.
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 - won 6-3 over Florida on 3/31, 4-4-2 last 10, one game in hand, nine points behind NY. (played 37 games at home, 38 on road, five left at home, three on road, @Buff, Caps, @Canes, Flames, @Ott, isles, Bos) (will drop off with next loss or two)
Carolina - lost 2-1 to Ottawa in a shootout on 3-31, 5-4-1 last 10, one game in hand, 13 points behind NY, seven behind last wild card spot. (played 38 games at home, 37 on road, three left at home, four on road, @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 2-1 in a shootout over Carolina on 3/31, their third win in a row. 4-4-2 last 10, one game in hand, 10 points behind the Rangers and four behind last Wild Card spot. (played 37 games at home, 38 on road, four left at home, three on road). (likely to drop off with another loss or two, 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