Rangers missed chance to take control in playoff race with back-to-back losses, but there still is hope
Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Rangers could have taken charge of their playoff race over the weekend. All they needed to do was hold on to a two-goal lead in the final 10 minutes of their game in Ottawa on Saturday. A win would have vaulted them over the Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets and into the first wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Instead, they blew the lead and lost in overtime. Then they lost to Columbus — in regulation — the next night at the Garden. So they remain outside of a playoff spot and now must face two Western Conference playoff teams on the road: No. 2 overall Winnipeg on Tuesday and Minnesota, the first wild-card team in the West, on Thursday before getting another crack at the Blue Jackets on Saturday in Columbus.
But while they had a tough weekend, there’s no time to feel sorry for themselves. There are 18 regular-season games left, and none of the teams in the race with them — Ottawa, Columbus, Detroit, Montreal, Boston and the Islanders — is likely to run away from the pack. Ottawa and Columbus also have three games remaining against each other, so the Rangers will have plenty of opportunities to gain ground in the race if they can do their part and win games.
After being on the road for three games this week, they’re back home next week for four games against Canadian opponents — Edmonton on Sunday, Calgary on Tuesday, Toronto on Thursday and Vancouver (with Filip Chytil) a week from Saturday.
That’s a lot of games in a short amount of time. They can make up for their lost weekend if they do well; they can fade from contention if they don’t.
“We have [seven] games in [12] days, so we don’t have time to pout,’’ J.T. Miller said after Sunday’s loss. “You’d like to win them all, but . . . the team has, over the last little bit, a good body of work . . . and I know we’ll be better next game.’’
They’re going to have to be. They allowed 37 shots on goal against Ottawa and gave up seven goals against Columbus. Clearly, the tight defense they had been playing for the previous four games loosened up significantly, and at a bad time.
Vincent Trocheck chalked it up to “shooting ourselves in the foot’’ Sunday night, but K’Andre Miller said, “I think we're just not playing as hard defensively.’’
Why they would have stopped playing hard defensively would be hard to explain, but maybe all of the changes to the defense corps played a part in it. General manager Chris Drury traded Ryan Lindgren and brought in former Islander Calvin de Haan and then Carson Soucy to a defense still trying to figure out how to play without injured No. 1 defenseman Adam Fox.
Fox being out may have something to do with the power play’s struggles, too. The man-up unit is 1-for-20 over the six games the Jericho native and former Norris Trophy winner has missed. But this is no time for excuses. Coach Peter Laviolette must find a way to have the defense rally and to get the power play going without Fox. And fast.
Laviolette dodged the question Sunday of whether Fox, who has been skating on his own, will join the team on the road trip. Even if he’s not ready to come back, having him on the trip probably would be good for team morale. And if he’s ready to come back, that might be good for the power play.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
