New York Rangers week ahead includes 3 big games before 4 Nations break
The New York Rangers have three huge games this week before most of them get a midwinter vacation.
Their 4-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday not only made Jonathan Quick the first U.S.-born goalie with 400 victories, it ended a three-game losing streak that was threatening to put them in too big a hole in the race for the two Eastern Conference wild-card playoff berths.
Instead, they’re within five points of the two wild cards (the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets), with three other teams (the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins and New York Islanders) also ahead of them. As the Rangers prepared for a two-day break before playing three games in four days, the Islanders and Blue Jackets lost Sunday, and the Lightning 3-2 to the Isles in overtime on Saturday. Boston had Sunday off after defeating the Rangers 6-3 on Saturday.
The Rangers get a chance to avenge the loss to the Bruins on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. They host the Pittsburgh Penguins two nights later, then hop a plane to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets on Saturday.
The big unknown in the playoff race will be the effects of the NHL version of midwinter break.
The League is staging its first 4 Nations Face-off, matching teams of NHL players from the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland. Regular-season play stops after two games on Super Bowl Sunday and doesn’t resume until Feb. 22.
The Rangers will have six players taking part in the tournament: Forward Mika Zibanejad will play for Sweden; defenseman Adam Fox, and forwards Vincent Trocheck, Chris Kreider and newcomer J.T. Miller, who was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks on Friday, will skate for Team USA, and defenseman Urho Vaakanainen was added to Finland’s roster Sunday as an injury replacement for Miro Heiskanen of the Dallas Stars. For NHL general managers, it’s time to pray that none of their players get hurt. For the players and coaches not taking part in the tournament, it’s a lot of time off that they’re not used to at this time of year.
Related: Breaking down the 15 NHL goalies with 400 wins after Jonathan Quick reaches milestone with Rangers
Who’s hot
Jonathan Quick definitely earned his 400th NHL victory. He was the best Ranger on the ice through the first two periods, keeping the deficit at one goal entering the final 20 minutes before the offense got going against the Golden Knights.
J.T. Miller has two goals, two assists and eight hits in two games since the big trade with the Canucks on Friday. He’s given the Rangers a dose of offense, but perhaps more important has brought the kind of physical presence up front that the team desperately needs.
Who’s not
Igor Shesterkin hasn’t looked like himself during the past week. He allowed 14 goals in the losses to Colorado, Carolina and Boston, dropping him back to 17-18-2 and inflating his goals-against average to 2.89, which would be the worst of his career.
Rangers lookahead this week includes …
Three games against teams in the same playoff pileup before the NHL takes nearly two weeks off for the inaugural 4 Nations Face-off.
Boston Bruins at Rangers (Feb. 5, 7 p.m. ET; TNT/truTV)
The Rangers will be out for revenge in their third and final game against the Bruins this season, after they were soundly defeated at TD Garden on Saturday in front of a national TV audience.
The Bruins enter the week one point out of a wild-card spot in the East. The disadvantage they have is in games played – Boston has played 54 times, more than any of the seven teams jammed within six points of the final two playoff spots.
Shesterkin allowed five goals on 24 shots in that loss, dropping him to 4-8-0 against Boston with a 3.00 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage. Don’t be surprised if coach Peter Laviolette uses Quick, who made 32 saves in a 2-1 win against the Bruins at the Garden on Jan. 2.
No matter who’s in goal, the Rangers will have to do a better job shutting down David Pastrnak, who scored three times Saturday for the 18th hat trick of his career – and second against the Rangers. He has 17 goals and 39 points in 36 career games against New York.
Pittsburgh Penguins at Rangers (Feb. 7, 7 p.m.; MSG/NHL Network)
The Penguins make the second of their two trips to the Garden in the Rangers last home game before the break.
New York has won both of its games against Sidney Crosby & Co. this season, 6-0 on opening night in Pittsburgh and 4-2 at the Garden on Dec. 6, hours after trading captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks.
The Penguins would need a big run to get close enough to consider making a playoff push realistic. They lost four of their first six games on their longest road trip of the 21st century before rallying for a 3-2 win at Utah on Wednesday. Then they blsnked the Nashville Predators 3-0 at home on Saturday.

Sidney Crosby has reached triple figures in career points against three teams – and the Rangers are one of them. Crosby has 108 points (40 goals, 68 assists) in 87 regular-season games against New York.
Rangers at Columbus Blue Jackets (Feb. 7, 7 p.m. MSG)
It’s a safe bet that someone will score a goal in this game – something that didn’t happen when the teams played at MSG on Jan. 18. The Rangers and Blue Jackets battled through 65 scoreless minutes before Vincent Trocheck got the only goal in the shootout for a 1-0 win.
The Blue Jackets won the first two games of a four-game trip last week by defeating Vegas and Utah in overtime. They ran out of gas in the third period Sunday, losing 5-3 to the Dallas Stars and dropping them back to the second wild card. Columbus visits the Buffalo Sabres before home games against Utah on Thursday and the Rangers on Saturday.
Artemi Panarin, who played two seasons with the Blue Jackets before signing with the Rangers on July 1, 2019, has fared well against his former team. Panarin has 27 points (13 goals, 14 assists) in 19 career games against Columbus.
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