Rangers still on the outside looking in as Eastern Conference playoff scramble continues

The New York Rangers will spend a lot of time during the next few days watching the scoreboard to see how the rest of the field jockeying for the two wild cards in the Eastern Conference is doing rather than trying to add to their own points total.
The Rangers saw at least one point get away Sunday when the Colorado Avalanche scored with 14.7 seconds remaining in regulation, handing New York a 5-4 loss at Madison Square Garden. New York overcame deficits of 2-0 and 4-2 and was less than 15 seconds away from getting at least a point – one they really could have used. Almost everyone else in the Eastern Conference playoff scramble got at least one win this weekend – the Ottawa Senators got two.
The loss to the Avalanche ended the Rangers point streak at 10 games (7-0-3) as they prepare for a Tuesday night visit from the Carolina Hurricanes, who’ve defeated them in each of their two meetings this season.
After that, it will be time for some serious scoreboard watching — the Rangers will be off until Saturday afternoon, when they begin a stretch of five games in eight days before the 4 Nations Face-off break, when they visit the Boston Bruins on Feb. 1.
Here’s a look at the playoff scramble in the East (all records through Sunday’s games).
Related: Rangers daily, including kick in the gut loss, Vegas star withdraws from 4 Nations Faceoff
Metropolitan Division top three
None of the top three teams in the Metropolitan Division look like they’ll be threatened by anyone. The Washington Capitals (33-11-5) are the leaders in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy, the Carolina Hurricanes (30-16-4) are second and the New Jersey Devils (28-17-6) trail them by two points.
The Devils lead everyone else in the division by at least seven points, which gives them some runway to cope with the loss of starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who will miss 4-6 weeks with a sprained knee ligament sustained in a 5-1 win against Boston on Jan. 22. Jake Allen got the win when the Devils topped the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in overtime at Bell Centre on Saturday and will be expected to carry the load.
As long as Markstrom doesn’t miss more time than expected, it’s hard to imagine the Rangers (or anyone else) being able to overtake the Devils.
Ahead of the Rangers (current wild cards)
Boston Bruins (25-20-6)
The Bruins looked like they were headed for another loss when they entered the third period against Colorado on Saturday afternoon trailing 1-0, but David Pastrnak set up two goals by Morgan Geekie and scored an empty-netter for a 3-1 win. That nudged them into third place in the Atlantic Division, behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers, until Ottawa defeatedToronto 2-1 on Saturday and Utah 3-1 on Sunday, dropping Boston back to the top wild card.

The Bruins’ biggest problem is that they’ve played 51 games, more than any of the other playoff contenders. They’re even with Ottawa at 56 points, but the Senators have a game in hand, as do the Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers. The Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings each have two games in hand, and the New York Islanders have three.
The Rangers edged the Bruins 2-1 at the Garden on Jan. 2 and go to Boston on Saturday afternoon for a nationally televised game, then host them four nights later.
Tampa Bay Lightning (26-19-3)
The Lightning were close to what would have ended as an 0-4-0 road trip last week, but they scored a sixth-attacker goal and an overtime game winner for a 4-3 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday, one night before a 2-0 loss at Detroit. The good news for the Lightning is that they play their next five games at Amalie Arena following a stretch that saw them on the road for 10 of 14 games since the start of the New Year.
Tampa Bay’s .573 points percentage is third in the Atlantic Division and sixth in the East, and their 48 games played are tied with the Islanders for the fewest in the East, so it’s hard to believe they won’t end up in the top three in their division. The Rangers lost 6-2 at Tampa Bay on Dec. 28 and play the Lightning twice in the final 10 days of the season.
Ahead of the Rangers (but not in the playoffs)
Columbus Blue Jackets (24-19-7)
Columbus was 1-2-1 on a four-game road trip that included a 1-0 shootout loss to the Rangers at the Garden on Jan. 18 before a one-game stop at home on Saturday that saw them top the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 on Kirill Marchenko’s overtime goal. The Jackets have to sit and watch for the next few days before beginning another four-game trip, this one starting Thursday at Vegas.
The Rangers and Blue Jackets have three games remaining, the next one is in Columbus on Feb. 8 — it’s the last game for each team before the 4 Nations break. Columbus comes to the Garden again on March 9 and hosts New York six nights later.
Montreal Canadiens (24-20-5)
The Canadiens stole a point Saturday when they overcame a pair of two-goal deficits before losing in overtime to New Jersey at Bell Centre. Montreal is 10-3-2 since the Christmas break — including a 5-4 overtime win against the Rangers at Bell Centre on Jan. 19 — and has home games against the Winnipeg Jets and Minnesota Wild before beginning a three-game California trip on Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks.
The Canadiens, seeking their first playoff berth since losing to the Lightning in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, have come together under ex-Rangers forward Martin St. Louis after a 5-11-2 start looked like it would doom them to another early summer vacation. The Rangers were 2-0-1 in the season series, winning 7-2 in Montreal on Oct. 22 and 4-3 at MSG on Nov. 30 before the OT loss.
Behind the Rangers
We’ll assume that the Pittsburgh Penguins (48 points in 51 games) and Buffalo Sabres (41 in 49 games), who are last in their respective divisions, have too few points and too many teams in front of them to have a realistic chance at the postseason. But there are three other teams that begin the new week trailing the Rangers while still holding realistic playoff hopes.
Detroit Red Wings (23-21-5, 51 points)
The Wings helped their efforts to host their first playoff game at Little Caesars Arena, which opened in the fall of 2016, by blanking the Lightning on Saturday behind ex-Rangers goalie Cam Talbot for their second straight win after an 0-2-1 slide that saw them score one goal in each game. The Red Wings have a home game against Los Angeles on Monday before heading out for a swing through Western Canada and Seattle that begins against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.

The Rangers swept the three games between the teams in a season series that ended before Veterans Day, outscoring the Red Wings by a total of 13-3.
Philadelphia Flyers (22-22-6, 50 points)
The Flyers were scheduled to have the weekend off before hosting the Devils on Monday night to begin a home-and-home set. Unfortunately, the offense went home a couple of days too early, managing a total of two goals in losses to the Rangers at MSG (6-1) on Thursday and to the Islanders (3-1) at UBS Arena the next night, dropping them back to NHL .500 and five points out of a playoff spot. The Flyers, who host the Islanders on Thursday, are in the midst of a stretch of five games in eight days before they head to Colorado on Sunday.
The Rangers don’t see them again until the Flyers come to the Garden on April 9.
New York Islanders (21-20-7, 48 points)
The Islanders have worked their way onto the fringes of the playoff chase in the East by winning four straight games, all at home, after losing the first two of a season-high seven-game homestand that ends Tuesday against Colorado. The Isles still have trouble scoring, but they’ve allowed just five goals during the winning streak.

However, they lost defensemen Noah Dobson and Ryan Pulock with injuries last week, and could be without goalie Marcus Hogberg, who left before overtime Saturday in a 3-2 win against Carolina with an upper-body injury. They’ve already added ex-Rangers defenseman Tony DeAngelo to fill in for Dobson and acquired defenseman Scott Perunovich from the St. Louis Blues on Monday, but losing Pulock and/or Hogberg for any length of time (both went on injured reserve Monday) could be fatal to their already-slim playoff hopes, especially with five of their final six games before the 4 Nations break on the road.
The Rangers haven’t played their local rival since a 5-2 win at the Garden on Nov. 2; they play three times in the final seven weeks of the season, beginning Feb. 25 on Long Island.
More About:New York Rangers News