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Despite issues, Rangers have ‘chance as good as anyone’ to make playoffs
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- Despite issues, Rangers have ‘chance as good as anyone’ to make playoffs
Playoffs? Are we really going to discuss the how the New York Rangers can still make the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, even as their scoring woes continue and losses pile up, especially on home ice?
Well, yes, we are. Because right now, parity within the NHL is at historic proportions. That means there's a plethora of mediocre teams in the murky middle of the standings, each with a legit shot to earn a postseason berth.
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Include the Rangers (16-15-4) in that group. That's despite a heinous 4-10-3 home record and six shutout losses (!) in 17 games at Madison Square Garden. And the fact that they're now 29th in the League, averaging 2.51 goals scored over 35 games, after a 3-0 loss to the last-overall Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.
But it's not like all that's dropped the Rangers out of the playoff hunt. In fact, NHL Network host E.J. Hradek made a rather simple argument for how and why the Rangers should make the playoffs, one season after failing to do so for the first in time in four years.
"The case is simple. It's that (coach) Mike Sullivan continues to do a good job, they continue to be much harder to play against, they continue to have a better defensive structure, and they continue to get great goaltending from Igor Shesterkin , and Jonathan Quick when he's in there," Hradek told Forever Blueshirts on the RINK RAP podcast. That's really the path for the Rangers."
Hradek realizes it's not that simple, of course.
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"For that to be the case, they've got to be better at home, for sure," he added. "And they're going to need J.T. Miller to be more productive, for sure. He is not producing at the level they expect."
NHL Network host believes Rangers 'right there' with opportunity to earn playoff berth
Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Entering their game Thursday in St. Louis against the Blues , the Rangers — who have a League-high 12 road wins — are seventh in the eight-team Metropolitan Division with 36 points, and 12th out of 16 teams in the Eastern Conference . The good news is that they're three points behind the New Jersey Devils for the final wild-card spot in the East and trail the Philadelphia Flyers by four points for third place in the division.
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However, on the flip side, the Rangers are just four points ahead of the Buffalo Sabres , who reside in the East cellar and have three games in hand on New York. In fact, the Rangers played more games than any team in the conference, outside of the Detroit Red Wings (35), who sit atop the Atlantic Division.
As such, New York's .514 points percentage is worst in the division and second worst in the conference. The challenge here is that the murky middle extends throughout the conference, since there's not a single team with a points percentage under .500, meaning everyone still has a shot to earn a postseason berth at this point.
But the Rangers are a much better team defensively than last year's version, and that means something in this league. The Rangers are seventh in the NHL , allowing 2.71 goals against per game. Shesterkin and Quick continue to be solid between the pipes, and benefit from a team buy-in to Sullivan's demand for more structured play in all three zones.
"At the heart of it, at the end of the day, they're going to have to lean on playing good team defense and protect their goalie, try to get leads in games and play good defense and win that way," Hradek explained. "I don't think they're going to win a lot of shootouts."
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In an attempt to juice their offensive production, the Rangers promoted Gabe Perreault and Brennan Othmann from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Wednesday. The hope here is that the kids provide a boost offensively, though not at the expense of defensive structure. That's a fine line for them to skate, especially since Sullivan doesn't quite trust either just yet.
However, it's all right there for the Rangers. If they can win more consistently, especially at home, a playoff spot is not even remotely out of the question.
"Let's face it, they're right there. They have a chance as good as anyone else," Hradek offered. "And when you have a goalie as good as Shesterkin, maybe you have an even better chance than those other teams."
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