Rangers could be facing make-or-break week after beating lowly Chicago
Rangers' Vincent Trocheck (16) celebrates with teammates Artemi Panarin (10) and Urho Vaakanainen (18) after scoring during the second period against Chicago, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Chicago. Credit: AP/Paul Beaty
A comfortable win over the team at the bottom of the NHL standings on Sunday hardly means the Rangers have turned any kind of corner in their quest to get back into the playoff race.
But as they approach the halfway point of the season, they keep looking for moments that can serve as turning points. Despite the relatively low level of resistance Chicago provided, this could be one.
We’ll find out this week.
With home games Tuesday against Dallas and Thursday against the Devils, followed by a three-game road trip that opens with Saturday's game in Las Vegas against the No. 1 team in the league, the immediate upcoming schedule is pretty daunting.
And yet it also represents an opportunity. Because if the Rangers, who could get No. 1 goaltender Igor Shesterkin back off injured reserve as soon as Tuesday, somehow can win a game or two in the gantlet they’re about to go through, that could give them the confidence they’ll need to start truly believing they can turn things around.
Of course, if they don’t squeeze out that win or two, well . . .
The Rangers are 18-20-1, tied with the Islanders for last place in the Metropolitan Division, and have lost 16 of their last 22 games. But since getting embarrassed by the Devils in a 5-0 loss in Newark in their last game before the NHL’s Christmas break, they have played better. They just don’t have a lot to show for it.
The Rangers outplayed Tampa Bay in the first game after the break but lost, 6-2. They played well the next game, against Florida, in a 5-3 loss. They fought hard against Washington on Saturday but lost, 7-4.
Still, they have won two of their last three games, stealing one against Boston last Thursday, when goaltender Jonathan Quick was outstanding, and doing what they had to do against Chicago on Sunday. And in the five games since the break, they have outshot their opponents four times (the Boston game being the exception), which at least indicates that they’ve been playing with energy.
True, there still is much to fix. The apparent breakdown of their special teams, which were such a weapon for them last season, is troubling, absolutely. But in five-on-five play, they have put together some performances lately on which they can build.
Now they just have to actually build on them.
It won’t be easy, though.
The Stars (24-13-1) will be looking for a little payback after the Rangers beat them in Dallas a few days before Christmas. The Devils (25-15-3) will want to continue to assert their dominance over their Hudson River rivals. Vegas (27-9-3) has won eight of its last 10 games. And after Vegas, the road trip concludes with games at Colorado (24-15-1) and Utah (17-15-7), which already has beaten the Rangers this season, in their home opener on Oct. 12.
This could be a make-or-break week for the Rangers. Will they be fighting for a playoff spot in the second half of the season? Or will they be playing out the string for the next four months?
Rangers claim Kaliyev. The Rangers on Monday claimed winger Arthur Kaliyev off waivers from the L.A. Kings. Kaliyev, 23, was born in Uzbekistan but grew up on Staten Island and played for the U.S. team in the World Junior Championships in 2020 and 2021, earning a gold medal in 2021.
A second-round pick by the Kings, No. 33 overall, in the 2019 draft, Kaliyev played parts of four seasons for L.A., notching 35 goals and 36 assists in 188 games. He had a career-high 14 goals in 80 games in 2021-22 and a career-high 28 points (13 goals, 15 assists) in 56 games the following season. He slipped to seven goals and 15 points in 51 games last season and had not played for the Kings this season while recovering from a broken clavicle. He had one goal and one assist in five games for their AHL affiliate in Ontario, California.
To make room on the roster for Kaliyev, Matt Rempe was sent to AHL Hartford.
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.
