Ed Stein fills in for Jan Levine today
Tonight the Rangers face the Buffalo Sabres at the Garden, in the season's penultimate game. This one hardly shapes up as a mid-March thriller and a win today guarantees the the Blue Shirts a playoff date with either Montreal or Tampa. Meanwhile Buffalo is playing for pride and the adoration of coach Ted Nolan.
What to watch for:
Per Larry Brooks' column in yesterday's New York Post, it's time for the veteran stars of this team to step up and lead by example. Tonight’s game is a good opportunity to show what Richards, Nash, St. Louis (more on him later), etc bring to the table; however, if the Rangers jump out to an early lead, expect to see a healthy dose of the bottom six forwards. Henrik Lundqvist gets the start in goal tonight and Cam Talbot should start Saturday against the Canadiens in Montreal.
The big elephant in the room is the health status of Ryan McDonagh and Chris Kreider. Rangers coach Alain Vignault is notoriously tight lipped this time of year when it comes to injuries. That said, I don't expect either will play tonight and I also suspect them to be out for Saturday's game as well. Both men are needed on the ice for the Rangers to make a deep playoff run. Several times during the past few games, Ranger's radio analyst Dave Maloney has said something to the effect of “this is where the Rangers miss Ryan McDonagh… The good news is both are skating in practice and should be back for the playoffs next week.
The Sabres come into the game with the worst record in the league, have lost four straight, and are now down to playing their fourth goalie of the season, Matt Hackett. One Buffalo player I am looking forward to watching is 2013 first round draft pick Rasmus Ristolainen. The Finnish rookie defenseman is a skilled and physical player with a high ceiling.
To be blunt, playoff contenders beat teams like the Sabres.
Line Combinations:
Forwards Nash-Stepan-St.Louis Pouliot-Brassard-Zuccarello Hagelin-Richards-Fast Dorsett/Carcillo-Boyle-Moore
Defense Staal-Strallman Girardi-Moore Diaz-Klein
Goalie Lundqvist Talbot
News, Notes, and Commentary:
Waiting for St. Louis. Martin St. Louis' performance has been disappointing since his arrival from Tampa at the trade deadline. I have a theory about St. Louis' tenure in New York. Despite his individual talent, he is more interested in the big picture of fitting in and being a good teammate. He reminds me of the new kid in school that knows the answers to the teacher's questions but won't raise his hand so as not to alienate his classmates. His three assist performance Tuesday seemed to have snapped him out of his funk and after the game he admitted to feeling more comfortable as a Ranger.
To play or not to play. All reports suggest Lundqvist plays tonight and sits out Saturday. I like this move, it gives him one more prep game and then a little rest before playoff game one. Additionally, Cam Talbot gets a tune up game. It's a good idea to get Talbot some game action now because it may be a long time before he gets back between the pipes and he needs to be sharp “just in case….
Hobbit Hustle. Congrats to Mats Zuccarello. Tuesday night he was awarded the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award as voted on by the Ranger fans. Ryan Callahan won the award the past two seasons and his departure left the door open for someone else to win. Currently the “Norwegian Hobbit…, Zuccarello leads the team in scoring with 58 points.
Get well soon. I am filling in today for regular blogger Jan Levine, who is recovering from surgery and should be back sometime next week. Jan does a fantastic job covering the Rangers and he will be missed during his absence.
-Ed Stein
From Jan:
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, 43-31-5 with 93 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.
A win Thursday puts the Rangers locked in to either the two- or three-seed, as it would give NY 95 points, which is Columbus' max. Since the Rangers hold the tiebreaker of more ROW, they would be locked into avoiding Boston or Pittsburgh. Columbus can still pass Philly, as they are tied with them at 91 points, but Philly has a game in hand. Right now, Philly owns the tiebreaker with 38 to 37 ROW but that is not set in stone with them separated by one ROW. It's interesting that Tampa will playa major part on who finishes second, third and fourth in the Metro with games against Philly tonight and Columbus on Friday.
Wednesday, Columbus beat Dallas 3-1 in the completion of the game in which Rich Peverley Tragically collapsed on the bench on March 10. The win clinched the second-ever playoff berth for the Blue Jackets. Montreal fell in overtime 3-2 to the Blackhawks, but that point earned puts them three up on Tampa for second in the Atlantic with the Lightning having three contests left and the Canadiens two. Pittsburgh beat Detroit 4-3 in a shootout, but the late goal scored by the Red Wings gave them a point, clinching a playoff berth for the 23rd straight season. This means that the eight playoff berths in the East are set, with positioning not yet finalized, save for Boston as the one-seed and Pittsburgh the two. Anaheim beat San Jose, clinching the Pacific Division, while LA lost their third straight, 4-3 to Calgary in a shootout, and will face San Jose in a 2-3 matchup in the first round of the playoffs.
Tonight, the only other game of major import in the East besides the Rangers-Sabres one is the Philly-Tampa contest. Of minor import is Montreal-NYI, if Montreal wins and Tampa loses, and boy I hope they don't, Montreal will be the two-seed and Tampa the three. Regardless of what happens, those two teams will meet in the first round of the playoffs. Lots of games in the West with playoff implications, Phoenix-Nashville, as the Coyotes sit two points behind Dallas for the eighth spot with a game in hand. Colorado-Vancouver and St. Louis-Minnesota impact the top two seeds in the Central, with the Blues having a two-point lead in the Avalanche and Chicago two points back of Colorado for the two seed but the Avalanche having a game in hand. In addition, the Blues are one point behind the Ducks for top seed in the West with a game in hand.
Division:
Philly - won 5-2 over Florida on 4/8. their second win in a row, 4-4-2 last 10, one game in hand, third in division and two points behind the Rangers. (played 40 games at home, 39 on road, one left at home, two on road, those are @TB, @Pitt, Canes)
Columbus - won 3-1 over Dallas on 4/9, their third win in a row, 6-3-1 in last 10, no games in hand, fourth in the division and two points behind the Rangers. First Wild Card. (played 41 games at home, 39 on road, none left at home, two on road, @TB, @Fla)
Conference (teams within 10 either way, as Boston has a lock of Atlantic division, with third place, since Montreal locked into a spot, either second or third, and wild cards up for grabs)
Montreal - second in Atlantic, won 7-4 over Ott on 4/4 and 5-3 over Detroit on 4/5, 8-2-0 last 10, no games in hand and six points up on Rangers. (played 39 games at home, 40 on road, two left at home, one on road, Det, @Chi, Isles, Rangers)
Tampa Bay - third in Atlantic, defeated Toronto 3-0 on 4/8, but win may have been costly as Ben Bishop was injured in the victory, 5-3-2 last 10, one game in hand and two points up on Rangers. (played 39 games at home, 40 on road, two left at home, one on road, Flyers, Columbus, @Caps)
Detroit - fourth place in Atlantic, lost 4-3 in a shootout on 4/10, 5-3-2 in last 10, no games in hand and two points behind the Rangers. Second Wild Card. (played 40 games at home, 40 on road, one left at home, one on road, Canes, @St.L)
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, convincing rebound win over Edmonton, solid victory over Vancouver, disappointing shootout loss to Colorado, frustrating loss to Ottawa and dominant win, following slow start, over Carolina. 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. Rangers have two games left, one at home, Sabres at the Garden on Thursday before the Apr. 12 finale in Montreal.
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 - won 3-1 4/3 - @Col - lost 3-2, S/O 4/5 - Ott - lost 3-2 4/8 - Car - won 4-1 4/10 - Buf 4/12 - @MTL