Rangers week ahead features final 2 games before end to miserable season
The New York Rangers are heading home for an early summer vacation at the end of the week after a miserable season that began with dreams of their first Stanley Cup championship since 1994 but will end with their first failure to qualify for the playoffs since the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season.
The Rangers knew they needed at least six points in their four games last week to have any hope of getting to the last two games with any hope of making the playoffs. Although they buried the New York Islanders under a blizzard of goals in a 9-2 win at UBS Arena on April 10, they were the team surrendering goals in bunches during the other three games.
Instead, the Tampa Bay Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes combined to outscore the Rangers 20-9 in three losses for the Blueshirts. Their playoff dreams officially ended Saturday afternoon in Raleigh, when the Hurricanes jumped out to a 4-0 lead on the way to a 7-3 victory.
There’s frustration throughout the organization after arguably the most disappointing regular season since 1992-93, when the Rangers failed to qualify for the postseason after winning the Presidents’ Trophy in 1991-92 – just as they did this season.
One of the most frustrated players is defenseman Calvin de Haan, who was acquired from the Colorado Avalanche on March 1. He began to voice his frustrations Sunday at an optional practice after being a healthy scratch for the past 18 games (and likely for the final two as well) – they are 6-10-2 in those games. Rest assured that de Haan, who can become a free agent on July 1, won’t be back in the fall.
Coach Peter Laviolette, who’s been the subject of numerous rumors that he won’t be back next season, said the early summer vacation is the price the Rangers have to pay for missing their chances to win the “Turtle Derby.”
“It’s disappointing for everybody,” he said. “It certainly wasn’t anybody’s plan coming into the year, especially coming off of last year. Yet here we are. We had opportunities in the last 20 games to make our own noise and make our own way, and we didn’t do that. So, it’s on us. We needed to be better.”
Who’s hot
J.T. Miller had a goal and assist in the loss to Carolina, giving him six points (two goals, four assists) during a four-game point streak. Miller has 32 points (12 goals, 20 assists) in 30 games since the Rangers acquired him from the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 31. He has 11 multi-point games since the trade.
Artemi Panarin had seven points (three goals, four assists) in the four games last week. He needs three goals to hit 40 for the second straight season and one point to get to 90 for the fifth time in six seasons as a Ranger; his only miss came in the 56-game 2020-21 season.
Who’s not
Chris Kreider will spend the summer trying to forget this season. He scored his 22nd goal in the 8-5 loss to the Flyers on April 9, but that was his only point during the four-game week. That he has just five assists in 66 games is almost incomprehensible.
Igor Shesterkin is another player who can’t see this season end soon enough. The soon-to-be highest-paid goalie in NHL history when his massive contract kicks in next season is 26-29-5 and will finish with a sub-.500 record for the first time since coming to the NHL in 2019-20. His current goals-against average (2.91) and save percentage (.903) are career worsts. He hasn’t gotten a lot of help from his teammates: Shesterkin has been buried under a barrage of Grade A chances while playing behind a team whose defense often leaks like a sieve – entering this week, he’s seen a League-high 1,724 shots in his 60 appearances.
Related: Mark Messier believes ‘spirit was missing’ for Rangers during massively disappointing season
Rangers lookahead this week includes …
Two more games, both against playoff-bound teams from the state of Florida, before heading home for the summer.
Rangers at Florida Panthers (April 14, 7 p.m.; MSG)
Unfortunately for the Rangers, they’re playing their final two games against teams that have something to play for.
The defending Stanley Cup champs are battling with the Lightning for second place in the Atlantic Division and need a win in their home finale to have a chance to finish ahead of the Bolts; the teams meet Tuesday in Tampa. With the intra-state rivals likely to meet in the first round of the playoffs and home ice still up for grabs, the Panthers desperately need a win.
It will be a night to remember for defenseman Matthew Robertson. The Rangers’ second-round pick (No. 49) in 2019 will make his NHL debut after four seasons in the minors when he steps onto the ice at Amerant Bank Arena. The 24-year-old is getting the chance to play because the Rangers shut down another young defenseman, Braden Schneider, who’s been playing through an upper-body injury.
Laviolette might give backup goaltender Jonathan Quick one last chance to play this season – Quick is 12-5-0 lifetime against the Panthers with a 2.48 goals-against average and .919 save percentage.
Tampa Bay Lightning at Rangers (April 17, 7 p.m. ET; MSG)
The Lightning will root for the Rangers on Monday before they come to Madison Square Garden for the second time in 10 days, this time for a game against a team that’s going nowhere except home for the summer. They enter the week two points behind the first-place Toronto Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division and two ahead of the third-place Panthers.
The Bolts are going for a sweep of the three-game season series after polishing off the Rangers 5-1 on April 7, when the Rangers left the ice serenaded by boos – an increasingly common occurrence.
Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov passed injured center Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche for sole possession of the NHL scoring lead after scoring two goals and assisting on another in a 7-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres. Entering the week, Kucherov has 119 points (36 goals, 83 assists), including a goal and two assists in the win at MSG last week – matching his performance in a 6-2 Lightning win at Amalie Arena on Dec. 28. The defending NHL scoring champion has 37 points (10 goals, 27 assists) in 29 career games against the Rangers.
If the game means anything to the Lightning, they figure to use starter Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Rangers are one of two teams with a winning record against the two-time Stanley Cup winner; he’s 6-8-2 against New York with a 2.86 GAA and .910 save percentage.
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