New York Rangers Daily: Mostly good night for Blueshirts; Seth Jones pops off about Blackhawks
Sure, there’s still a major logjam in the Eastern Conference playoff race. But don’t look now, the New York Rangers are tied for ninth in the conference, just two points out of the second wild card and four out of the top wild-card spot.
So, despite looking like dog poop for the first two games out of the break — even though they miraculously won one of them, 5-3 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday — the Rangers (28-25-4) are in in a good spot with 24 games to play following their 5-1 win against the Islanders on Tuesday.
The Rangers were not as good as the final score indicated, though they did some things very, very well. Igor Shesterkin again was excellent, finishing with 36 saves. And the bottom-six forward group were game changers, especially the fourth line which accounted for three goals.
And how about defenseman Urho Vaakanainen? He logged nearly 21 minutes TOI and notched the first three-point game of his NHL career.
Plus it was a pretty heroic effort by the D-corps, which was down to four healthy defenders after Adam Fox (upper body in third period) and K’Andre Miller (lower body in second period) left with injuries. It got so dire at one point when Braden Schneider was hobbled following a blocked shot, that center Mika Zibanejad took a shift on defense.
All hands on deck and the Rangers grinded out a win and perhaps knocked the Islanders out of playoff contention. Their archrivals have lost four straight and are leaking goals against in a bad way lately. The Islanders are seven points out of the wild card in the East and sit in 14th place.
Of course, now all attention is on Fox and Miller. The Rangers really can’t afford to lose one of them for any stretch much less each of their top two defensemen.
The Ottawa Senators are the only team in this wild-card chase that plays Wednesday — they’re looking to end a four-game skid against the first-overall Winnipeg Jets, who’ve won a franchise-record 10 games in a row.
More are in action Thursday; and the Rangers are back at it Friday at home against the tough Toronto Maple Leafs.
Stay tuned. It’s getting really interesting.
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New York Rangers news
Here are three Rangers takeaways from the win on Long Island, including career nights for Jonny Brodzinski and Urho Vaakanainen.
It was a big win Tuesday, but it might be a costly one for the Rangers, who await word on injured defensemen Fox and Miller.
Gabe Perreault tops our weekly Rangers NCAA prospects report. The sophomore forward from Boston College reached and passed the 100-point milestone in his collegiate career.
NHL news
In light of the Fox and Miller injuries, here’s a look at the top NHL defenseman expected to be traded ahead of the March 7 deadline.
The Rangers aren’t the only team dealing with injuries to key players. The Maple Leafs first lost defenseman Chris Tanev with an upper-body injury in their game against the Boston Bruins. Then star forward William Nylander skipped overtime against the Bruins because “something was bothering him.”
Despite that, the Maple Leafs staged a wild comeback and defeated the listing Bruins 5-4 in OT.
Roman Josi left the Nashville Predators’ 4-1 loss to the Florida Panthers when his head hit the boards after a check from behind by Sam Bennett.
Montreal Canadiens forward Josh Anderson was being evaluated postgame after crashing into the boards in the third period of a 4-0 win against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Joel Eriksson Ek is week to week with an upper-body injury for the Minnesota Wild.
Seth Jones had plenty to say after the Chicago Blackhawks latest loss, 2-1 to the Utah Hockey Club. The frustrated defenseman, who’s on the trade block said, “We haven’t made any strides to be a better, more simple hockey team, and it shows.”
Far less frustrated is John Tavares of the Maple Leafs, a pending UFA who said that he’d “love” to sign a new deal with Toronto ahead of the trade deadline.
The time may never be better for the middle-of-the-road St. Louis Blues to trade goalie Jordan Binnington after his star turn at the 4 Nations Face-Off for Canada. It’s an intriguing option. Did anyone say Edmonton Oilers?
Andrew Copp is out for the season following pectoral surgery. So, what do the Detroit Red Wings do now?
The Red Wings rallied from two goals down to beat the Wild 3-2 and remain in sole possession of the first wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Alex Ovechkin scored his 30th goal for the 19th time in his NHL career and moved within 12 goals of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL goals record, but the Washington Capitals lost to the Calgary Flames, 3-1.
Kirill Marchenko scored twice to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets past the Dallas Stars 6-4.
Two teams heading in opposite directions. The Tampa Bay Lightning won their sixth game in a row, 4-1 over the Oilers, who’ve lost four straight.
The Philadelphia Flyers exploded for a 6-1 win against the sinking Pittsburgh Penguins.
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