The Rangers picked Halverson in the second round (No. 59 overall) in 2014, then chose Shesterkin in the fourth round (No. 118). Shesterkin came to North America from Russia in 2019 and had become one of the NHL’s top goaltenders; Halverson made one appearance in relief for the Rangers in a 6-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 17, 2018.

The Rangers let him become a free agent in 2019. He signed a two-year AHL contract with Syracuse on Nov. 28, 2023, and inked a two-year, two-way contract with Tampa Bay on Feb. 3, 2025. Halverson’s second NHL appearance, and first start, came with the Lightning in Salt Lake City on March 22, when he allowed five goals in a 6-4 loss to the Utah Hockey Club (now the Utah Mammoth).

Lightning coach Jon Cooper said starter Andrei Vasilevskiy is not available for Thursday’s home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Jonas Johansson got the start, with Halverson as his backup, in a 4-3 loss to the Penguins. However, Cooper also said he expects Vasilevskiy to be ready for Tampa Bay’s home game against the New York Islanders on Saturday. Vasilevskiy made 21 saves on Tuesday in a 2-1 loss to the Isles at UBS Arena.

Vasilevskiy missed most of training camp due to injury, and Halverson made three preseason appearances for the Lightning during the preseason, going 2-0-0 with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage. Despite that, Tampa Bay sent him back to Syracuse. In 13 games with the Crunch, he’s 9-4-0 with a .901 save percentage, 2.58 goals-against average and two shutouts.

The 6-foot-5, 235-pound netminder has won four in a row, including a 37-save performance in his last start, a 5-3 win against Utica on Nov. 29. Halverson was an AHL All-Star in 2024-25, and he ranks tied for third for shutouts, 11th for GAA and 14th for saves (299) among AHL goaltenders with at least 10 games played this season.

Halverson has played in 122 AHL games with Syracuse, Tucson and the Hartford Wolf Pack, the Rangers’ top affiliate; he is 56-47-15 with a .901 save percentage, 2.75 GAA, eight shutouts and two assists.

Ex-Rangers goalie Halverson gets recalled by Lightning

The native of Traverse City, Michigan, turned pro with the Rangers organization in 2016-17 after twice playing for the United States at the World Junior Championship — winning a bronze medal in 2016. Shesterkin was taken in the fourth round (No. 118) that year, but the Moscow native opted to remain in Russia and became a star in the KHL until he signed with the Rangers on May 3, 2019, and came to North America for the 2019-20 season.

By then, Halverson was already well-traveled.

He split 2016-17, his first pro season, between the Rangers’ ECHL affiliate in Greenville, South Carolina, and Hartford, then did the same in 2017-18 — with the exception of Feb. 17, 2018. That’s when Halverson backed up Henrik Lundqvist and made his NHL debut after “The King” was pulled in the third period of a game against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre, having allowed five goals on 27 shots.

Halverson stopped five of six shots in 12:33 of playing time in a 6-3 loss. That appearance made him the eighth U.S.-born goaltender to play for the Rangers. Keith Kinkaid became No. 9 when he played in 2020-21 and 2021-22, and Jonathan Quick, who joined New York last season as Shesterkin’s backup, is the 10th. Quick became the first U.S.-born NHL goalie with 400 wins when the Rangers defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Feb. 2, 2025.

But Halverson’s career since that night in Ottawa hasn’t gone the way he’d planned.

With Shesterkin under contract with the Rangers, Lundqvist still on hand and promising newcomer Alexandar Georgiev also battling for playing time, there was no place for Halverson after he split 2018-19 between Hartford and Maine of the ECHL.

Instead, he became a free agent, spent most of 2019-20 with Norfolk of the ECHL and played four games for ECHL Wheeling in 2020-21 before a high ankle sprain ended his season.

Halverson didn’t play at all in 2021-22 when he was recovering from knee and wrist surgery (instead, he worked on a farm), then returned to the ice in 2022-23 with Bayreuth in Germany’s second division.

Halverson went to camp in the fall of 2023 on a PTO with Syracuse and won four of five decisions before earning a two-year AHL contract from the Crunch in late November. He ended up splitting time between Syracuse and Orlando, the Lightning’s ECHL affiliate, but excelled at the AHL level, where he was 7-3-3 in 14 games with a 2.18 goals-against average, .913 save percentage and one shutout. It was the best showing of his professional career to that point. He was named Syracuse’s starter in the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs, when he was 3-4 but finished with a 2.19 GAA and .916 save percentage.

That line from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” perfectly describes the New York Rangers’ horrendous performance in their non-competitive 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. The question for coach Mike Sullivan is how to put the wheels back on the bus after they were run off the road by the Bolts, who embarrassed them in front of a sellout crowd of 18,006 – many of whom either left early or serenaded the home team with boos.

“We got outcompeted from the drop of the puck,” an unhappy Sullivan said postgame. “There’s got to be a willingness and a want to be first to pucks, to embrace physicality. We knew the type of game it was going to be. That team, they’ve got hard skill, they compete and they skate. That was the type of game it was going to be. I don’t think we had the wherewithal to match the intensity. I just feel we lost puck battles all over the rink and it’s hard to establish any sort of game that you want to play if you don’t win puck battles.”

“There’s going to be nights when you don’t have your best game, but you have to find ways to compete.”

It was a complete no-show by the Rangers, except for goalie Igor Shesterkin, who made 31 saves and was the only reason they didn’t lose 10-1.

“At no point in that game were we deserving of winning,” said captain J.T. Miller, who scored the Rangers lone goal. “’Shesty’ does everything to keep it close.”

Sullivan and his staff have three days to come up with some answers before the Dallas Stars come to the Garden on Tuesday night. One area that’s sure to come up is getting more shots on goal.

Rangers seek answers after embarrassing loss to Lightning

The Rangers managed just 13 shots against Jonas Johansson, Tampa Bay’s backup goalie. It was the seventh time in eight games the Rangers had 22 or fewer shots on goal, and Sullivan said he wants to see his players shoot and crash the net more often rather than trying to make the perfect play.

“We’re always looking for the next best play, instead of getting people inside, getting to the blue paint and delivering pucks to the net and creating some opportunity off the shot,” he said. “I don’t think we create off the shot nearly enough as we should. As a result, we don’t force teams to have to defend the inside of the ice. I think if we did, we’d get on the power play more. I think there would be more opportunity there. We’ve got to have a willingness to go there more.”

He cited the latter stages of the second period, when the Rangers had their best stretch of play.

Foxy with the shot + J.T. deflects it in pic.twitter.com/j2lsoWaFvb

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) November 29, 2025

“We had some significant O-zone time, but we didn’t get inside enough – no doubt,” he said. “We didn’t get the puck there, we didn’t get the people there, and that’s something we have to get better at.”

Even worse is that they will have to try to get better without their best skater. Defenseman Adam Fox, whose perfect pass resulted in Miller’s goal at 17:31 of the middle period, left the game seven minutes into the third period with an apparent injury to his left arm after a crunching hit by Brandon Hagel behind the Rangers net. He went to the locker room and didn’t return.

“He’s being evaluated for an upper-body injury,” was all Sullivan said when asked about his No. 1 defenseman and power-play quarterback. But on Sunday, the Rangers reportedly placed him on long-term injured reserve with a left shoulder injury, effectively meaning he won’t play at least until after the Christmas break.

The injury isn’t believed to be long-term or season-threatening, but The Athletic, citing unidentified sources, said the Rangers plan to label it as week-to-week and reevaluate his status around Christmas.

Losing Fox will make a tough situation even tougher. But a more important issue is their compete level — or lack thereof — against the Lightning.

The Rangers followed perhaps their best performance of the season, a 6-2 road win against the Boston Bruins on Friday, with their worst effort — by far. They played like a team that didn’t care – and as a result saw its home record drop to an NHL-worst 2-8-1.

“I wish we had the answer,” forward Mika Zibanejad said of the team’s struggles at MSG. “We just have to find a way. I understand the reaction from our fans. We’re more frustrated than they are.”

Being outplayed is one thing. Being outcompeted is something no NHL coach can tolerate.

“I think that’s something I’ll discuss with my coaching staff,” Sullivan said when asked about his team’s effort against the red-hot Lightning, who’ve won seven in a row. “Obviously our expectation is higher. I don’t think the players by any stretch have any intention of getting outcompeted.

“We’ve got to find a way to take more pride in that. That’s something we’ve got to work through as a group.”

They’d better do it soon.

“I thought we played a complete game all night long,” Sullivan said. “We forced them to have to play 200 feet. We know that team can score, so making sure that we check as hard as we did was gonna be an important element of the game — and I thought the guys bought into it.”

The win in Tampa was a goal-filled night that saw the Rangers send Vezina Trophy-winning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to the bench after 40 minutes. The Blueshirts scored seven goals on 21 shots, a 33.3 shooting percentage that matched a season best.

But it was far from a perfect effort in the eyes of Sullivan, who noted after the game that, “I don’t think we were at our best.”

In comparison, a total of two goals were scored in 65 minutes in Columbus. New York’s Mika Zibanejad and Dmitri Voronkov of the Blue Jackets traded power-play goals, in the second period. Scoring chances were few and far between.

“Everybody played just a solid road game today,” noted captain J.T. Miller, who scored the shootout winner with a lightning-quick shot that beat Columbus goalie Jet Greaves up top. “We took care of the puck. It was kind of a greasy game. It wasn’t really super exciting, I don’t think.”

JT Miller wins it in the shootout and the Rangers stay hot on the road 🔥 pic.twitter.com/5k4Po1ZTsd

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 16, 2025

Columbus entered play with 41 goals at 5-on-5, tied for fifth in the League. But New York held the Blue Jackets scoreless at even strength and surrendered just 25 shots through three periods plus overtime, keeping things manageable for Igor Shesterkin.

“That’s a good team we played against,” Sullivan noted. “They’ve got a lot of young talent, they’re fast, they’ve got a real good transition game, they’re one of the best teams in the League off the rush. We knew that was gonna be an important aspect of the game, and I thought for the most part we played on top of them most of the night.”

“It seems like when we do give something up, it’s for the most part not the big ones,” Miller added. “We’ve done a good job of having a lot of layers and sticks in the middle of the rink.”

MSG analyst Steve Valiquette agreed.

“I think the outcome of the game, it all hinged on how the Rangers protected the inner slot against a very good 5-on-5 team from Columbus,” Valiquette said during the network’s postgame show. “They just didn’t let them get active in there.”

Headed by Kirill Marchenko and Norris Trophy-finalist Zach Werenski, the Blue Jackets rank fourth in expected-goals-for percentage at 5-on-5.

“They’re hard to play against at 5-on-5 because they’re so creative offensively,” Valiquette said. “But if you don’t let them in, you win the hockey game that way. And I thought that’s where the Rangers really won the game — it wasn’t offensively, obviously. It was how stout they were at protecting the house.”

“And I don’t think we compromised offense to do it,” Sullivan added. “We didn’t score a ton of goals tonight, but we generated offense. That’s what we’re looking for. I know the guys will score if they’re generating offense like they are.”

Rangers proving they ‘can win different ways’

In a two-game span, the Rangers have won despite putting two very different products on the ice.

“I just think it’s evidence that we can win different ways,” Sullivan said.

New York’s offensive resurgence, sparked by Vincent Trocheck’s return and Artemi Panarin’s inspired play of late, should help them keep pace in a high-scoring affair. But they’re still more than capable of playing shutdown defense and grinding out narrow victories — as they showed Saturday.

“A sign of a good team is when they have a comfort level playing in a one-goal game, in a low-scoring game,” explained Sullivan. “And I believe that we’re developing that comfort level — when you can play in your endzone and defend and you don’t have to hit the panic button, and you just have a certain level of confidence that everybody’s gonna do their job.”

New York has certainly developed a proficiency for eking out these types of wins on the road. The Rangers continue to boast the NHL’s best record away from home; they are 9-1-1 after their sixth consecutive road victory.

And even the flawed efforts, such as the win against the Lightning, seem easier to stomach when the final score ends in their favor.

“We were playing against Nikita Kucherov and [Brayden Point], they’re gonna get their looks. I don’t wanna overthink it too much,” Miller said. “Finding a way to win on the road against teams in your conference is huge. We’re happy to keep going.”

The 28-year-old got the start hours after a long trip following his recall from Syracuse of the American Hockey League. He finished with 19 saves on 24 shots before Utah hit the empty net in the final minute to seal the win.

Halverson signed a two-year, two-way NHL contract carrying an average annual value of $775,000 with the Lightning on Feb. 3, 2025. He backed up Andrei Vasilevskiy for Tampa Bay’s final four games before the 4 Nations Face-Off, after which he was returned to Syracuse.

The Lightning recalled him Saturday after Jonas Johansson, their regular backup, had to return to Tampa for a family matter.

“Richly deserved, a long time coming for him,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of giving Halverson the start. “He’s really battled to get to this spot. (Johansson) has had a family matter he’s going to take care of, so he’s gone home for the rest of the road trip and Halvy will be with us.”

Cooper also said afterward that the loss “was not on (Halverson) at all. He had to take multiple planes, got in well after midnight. We didn’t play nearly well enough in front of him.”

Halverson was 16-9-11 with a .913 save percentage, 2.32 goals-against average and four shutouts in 34 games this season with Syracuse before being recalled. He’s tied for fourth in the AHL in shutouts, is eighth in GAA, had an assist on March 15 — his first since the 2016-17 season — and was selected for the North Division team at the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic in Palm Desert, California, last month.

First career start for Halvy 🥹 pic.twitter.com/MPjggYbfzV

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 22, 2025

The native of Traverse City, Michigan, has appeared in 100 AHL contests with Syracuse, the Tucson Roadrunners and the Hartford Wolf Pack. He is 41-41-15 with a .900 save percentage, 2.86 goals-against average and five shutouts.

Vasilevskiy, a two-time Stanley Cup winner who’s also won the Vezina Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy, is locked in as the Lightning’s No. 1 goalie. The Lightning opted to use Halverson in the first of back-to-back road games, with Vasilevskiy in line to play against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday, with Halverson dressing as his backup.

Halverson loses in first NHL start, 11 years after being drafted by Rangers

Halverson’s first NHL start is a testimony to his perseverance.

He was the Rangers’ first pick (second round, No. 59 overall) in 2014 and turned pro in 2016-17 after twice playing for the United States at the World Junior Championship — winning a bronze medal in 2016. Shesterkin was taken in the fourth round (No. 118) that year, but the Moscow native opted to remain in Russia and became a star in the KHL until he signed with the Rangers on May 3, 2019, and came to North America for the 2019-20 season.

By then, Halverson was already well-traveled.

He split 2016-17, his first pro season, between the Rangers’ ECHL affiliate in Greenville, South Carolina, and Hartford, then did the same in 2017-18 — with the exception of Feb. 17, 2018. That’s when Halverson backed up Henrik Lundqvist and made his NHL debut after “The King” was pulled in the third period of a game against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre, having allowed five goals on 27 shots.

Halverson stopped five of six shots in 12:33 of playing time in a 6-3 loss. That appearance made him the eighth U.S.-born goaltender to play for the Rangers. Keith Kinkaid became No. 9 when he played in 2020-21 and 2021-22, and Jonathan Quick, who joined New York last season as Shesterkin’s backup, is the 10th. Quick became the first U.S.-born NHL goalie with 400 wins when the Rangers defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Feb. 2.

But Halverson’s career since that night in Ottawa hasn’t gone the way he’d planned.

With Shesterkin under contract with the Rangers, Lundqvist still on hand and promising newcomer Alexandar Georgiev also battling for playing time, there was no place for Halverson after he split 2018-19 between Hartford and Maine of the ECHL. Instead, he became a free agent, spent most of 2019-20 with Norfolk of the ECHL and played four games for ECHL Wheeling in 2020-21 before a high ankle sprain ended his season. Halverson didn’t play at all in 2021-22 when he was recovering from knee and wrist surgery (instead, he worked on a farm), then returned to the ice in 2022-23 with Bayreuth in Germany’s second division.

Halverson went to camp in the fall of 2023 on a PTO with Syracuse, Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate, and won four of five decisions before earning a two-year AHL contract from the Crunch in late November.

He ended up splitting time between Syracuse and Orlando, the Lightning’s ECHL affiliate, but excelled at the AHL level, where he was 7-3-3 in 14 games with a 2.18 goals-against average, .913 save percentage and one shutout. It was the best showing of his professional career to that point. He was named Syracuse’s starter in the Calder Cup Playoffs, when he was 3-4 but finished with a 2.19 GAA and .916 save percentage.

Halverson, wearing No. 33, was on the bench backing up Andrei Vasilevskiy against the Senators, the team he faced when he made his first NHL appearance on Feb. 17, 2018, relieving Henrik Lundqvist in a 6-3 loss at Canadian Tire Centre. He had not dressed for another NHL game until Tuesday.

The two-way deal Halverson signed Monday is worth $775,000 annually at the NHL level and extends through the end of the 2025-26 season.

The 28-year-old was recalled from Syracuse, the Lightning’s AHL affiliate, as he was enjoying his best pro season. Halverson was 12-7-7 with a .918 save percentage, 2.20 goals-against average and four shutouts in 26 games for the Crunch this season while playing under an AHL contract. Among all AHL goaltenders who have played at least 20 games, Halverson is tied for first in shutouts, tied for second in goals-against average and is sixth in save percentage.

Vasilevskiy, a two-time Stanley Cup winner who’s also won the Vezina Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy, is locked in as the Lightning’s No. 1 goalie. But Tampa Bay has been dealing with some uncertainty because of an injury to backup Jonas Johansson – and Halverson’s impressive play at Syracuse earned him a call-up. He could get his first NHL start this weekend, when the Lightning play back-to-back afternoon road games against the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens.

Halverson was the Rangers’ first pick (second round, No. 59 overall) in 2014 and turned pro in 2016-17 after twice playing for the United States at the World Junior Championship — winning a bronze medal in 2016. Shesterkin was taken in the fourth round (No. 118) that year, but the Moscow native remained in Russia and became a star in the KHL until he signed with the Rangers on May 3, 2019, and arrived in North America for the 2019-20 season.

By then, Halverson was already well-traveled.

Ex-Rangers goalie Halverson dresses for first NHL game since 2018

He split 2016-17, his first pro season, between the Rangers’ ECHL affiliate in Greenville, South Carolina, and Hartford, then did the same in 2017-18 — with the exception of Feb. 17, 2018. That’s when Halverson backed up Lundqvist and made his NHL debut after “The King” was pulled in the third period of a game against the Senators at Canadian Tire Centre, having allowed five goals on 27 shots.

Halverson stopped five of six shots in 12:33 of playing time in a 6-3 loss. That appearance made him the eighth U.S.-born goaltender to play for the Rangers. Keith Kinkaid became No. 9 when he played in 2020-21 and 2021-22, and Jonathan Quick, who joined New York last season as Shesterkin’s backup, is the 10th. Quick became the first U.S.-born NHL goalie with 400 wins when the Rangers defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Sunday.

But the Rangers returned Halverson to AHL Hartford the next day, and he didn’t dress for another NHL game until Tuesday.

He wound up being the odd man out in New York. With Shesterkin having signed with the Rangers, Lundqvist still on hand and promising newcomer Alexandar Georgiev also seeking playing time, there was no place for Halverson after he split 2018-19 between Hartford and Maine of the ECHL. He became a free agent, spent most of 2019-20 with Norfolk of the ECHL and played four games for ECHL Wheeling in 2020-21 before a high ankle sprain ended his season. Halverson didn’t play at all in 2021-22 when he was recovering from knee and wrist surgery (instead, he worked on a farm), then returned to the ice in 2022-23 with Bayreuth in Germany’s second division.

Halverson went to camp in the fall of 2023 on a PTO with Syracuse, Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate, and won four of five decisions before earning a two-year AHL contract from the Crunch in late November. He ended up splitting time between Syracuse and Orlando, the Lightning’s ECHL affiliate.

But he excelled at the AHL level, going 7-3-3 in 14 games with a 2.18 goals-against average, .913 save percentage and one shutout. He was named Syracuse’s starter in the Calder Cup Playoffs, when he was 3-4 but finished with a 2.19 GAA and .916 save percentage.

The two-way deal is worth $775,000 annually at the NHL level, according to Puckpedia. It extends through the end of the 2025-26 season.

The 28-year-old is enjoying his best pro season. He has a 12-7-7 record with a .918 save percentage, 2.20 goals-against average and four shutouts in 26 games this season with the Syracuse Crunch, Tampa Bay’s American Hockey League affiliate, while playing under an AHL contract. Among all AHL goaltenders who have played at least 20 games, Halverson is tied for first in shutouts, tied for second in goals-against average and is sixth in save percentage.

Halverson is a member of the North Division team playing at the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic in Palm Desert, California, on Monday.

The native of Traverse City, Michigan, has appeared in 92 AHL contests with Syracuse, the Tucson Roadrunners and the Hartford Wolf Pack. He is 37-39-14 with a .900 save percentage, 2.87 goals-against average and five shutouts.

Andrei Vasilevskiy, a two-time Stanley Cup winner who’s also won the Vezina Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy, is locked in as the Lightning’s No. 1 goalie. But Tampa Bay has been dealing with some uncertainty because of an injury to backup goalie Jonas Johansson – and given Halverson’s impressive play, the Bolts might use him in the No. 2 role for the time being instead of Matt Tomkins.

If Halverson does make it back to the NHL, it would be a testimony to his perseverance.

Halverson was the Rangers’ first pick (second round, No. 59 overall) in 2014 and turned pro in 2016-17 after twice playing for the United States at the World Junior Championship — winning a bronze medal in 2016. Shesterkin was taken in the fourth round (No. 118) that year, but the Moscow native remained in Russia and became a star in the KHL until he signed with the Rangers on May 3, 2019, and arrived in North America for the 2019-20 season.

By then, Halverson was already well-traveled.

Ex-Rangers goalie Halverson signs NHL contract with Lightning

He split 2016-17, his first pro season, between the Rangers’ ECHL affiliate in Greenville, South Carolina, and Hartford, then did the same in 2017-18 — with the exception of Feb. 17, 2018. That’s when Halverson backed up Henrik Lundqvist and made his NHL debut after “The King” was pulled in the third period of a game against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre, having allowed five goals on 27 shots.

Halverson stopped five of six shots in 12:33 of playing time in a 6-3 loss. That appearance made him the eighth U.S.-born goaltender to play for the Rangers. Keith Kinkaid became No. 9 when he played in 2020-21 and 2021-22, and Jonathan Quick, who joined New York last season as Shesterkin’s backup, is the 10th. Quick became the first U.S.-born NHL goalie with 400 wins when the Rangers defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Sunday.

But Halverson’s career since that night in Ottawa hasn’t gone the way he’d planned.

With Shesterkin having signed with the Rangers, Lundqvist still on hand and promising newcomer Alexandar Georgiev also seeking playing time, there was no place for Halverson after he split 2018-19 between Hartford and Maine of the ECHL. He became a free agent, spent most of 2019-20 with Norfolk of the ECHL and played four games for ECHL Wheeling in 2020-21 before a high ankle sprain ended his season. Halverson didn’t play at all in 2021-22 when he was recovering from knee and wrist surgery (instead, he worked on a farm), then returned to the ice in 2022-23 with Bayreuth in Germany’s second division.

Halverson went to camp in the fall of 2023 on a PTO with Syracuse, Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate, and won four of five decisions before earning a two-year AHL contract from the Crunch in late November.

He ended up splitting time between Syracuse and Orlando, the Lightning’s ECHL affiliate, but excelled at the AHL level, where he was 7-3-3 in 14 games with a 2.18 goals-against average, .913 save percentage and one shutout. It was the best showing of his professional career to that point. He was named Syracuse’s starter in the Calder Cup Playoffs, when he was 3-4 but finished with a 2.19 GAA and .916 save percentage.

New York Rangers GM Chris Drury and his counterparts around the League are making their lists and checking them twice as they look to see whether they’ll be buyers and/or sellers as the March 7 deadline approaches.

The Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche got things started on Jan. 24 when the Avalanche sent two-time 100-point scorer Mikko Rantanen to the ’Canes for forward Martin Necas, center Jack Drury and two draft picks. Carolina also traded another draft pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for forward Taylor Hall, who won the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 2017-18.

The Rangers pulled off a blockbuster of their own on Friday night by acquiring center J.T. Miller from the Vancouver Canucks, giving up center Filip Chytil, rookie defenseman Victor Mancini and their first-round pick in the 2025 draft as long as it’s not in the top 13 — if it is, they’ll give up their 2026 first-rounder.

With five of the eight playoff berths in the East (two in the Atlantic Division, three in the Metropolitan) all but decided, teams also have to determine as the deadline draws nearer whether their playoff chances are worth adding talent — or if it’s time to sell.

Here’s an updated look at the Rangers and the teams they’re battling against for a playoff spot as trade season heats up. All deadline cap figures are from Puckpedia.

Related: NHL insider warns Rangers, NHL teams to do ‘homework’ on J.T. Miller before making trade

Breaking down what Rangers, East rivals could do ahead of NHL trade deadline

New York Rangers (24-22-2; 6th in Metro, 13th in East, 5 points out of wild card)
Deadline cap space: $16,418,170

Even before acquiring Miller, the he remodeled Rangers had made two major trades in December, sending their captain, defenseman Jacob Trouba, to the Anaheim Ducks and forward Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken. The return was two defenseman, Urho Vaakanainen and Will Borgen, who’ve fit in well on the bottom four. The Rangers also claimed 23-year-old forward Arthur Kaliyev off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings; he has two goals and an assist in 10 games.

New York got back into the playoff hunt with an 8-3-3 mark in January after a disastrous 4-15-0 stretch in their final 19 games of 2024, although the Rangers are coming off back-to-back home losses to Colorado and Carolina. But the solid showing in January hasn’t been enough to put them into a playoff position — hence the reason that Drury made the big swing for Miller.

The question is whether Drury will try to make a big splash for Miller, a top-six forward or perhaps another defenseman, or ditch a contract or two (See: Ryan Lindgren Reilly Smith, Jimmy Vesey) and let some of the Rangers’ young talent, such as forward Brennan Othmann, see what they can do in the heat of a playoff race.

In playoff position

Ottawa Senators (27-20-4; 3rd in Atlantic)
Deadline cap space: $3,330,833

The Senators wasted a two-goal third-period lead on Thursday but defeated the Washington Capitals 5-4 in overtime to maintain their hold on third place in the Atlantic.

Newf and Pinto's battle on the boards 👏
Chabby's finish 👏
The vibes 👏#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/eKujGh3W8M

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) January 31, 2025

The Senators are surviving the absence of starting goaltender Linus Ullmark, who’s been out since Dec. 22 with a back injury, thanks to the play of Anton Forsberg and rookie Leevi Merilainen. But injuries have forced them to use AHL call-ups like Nikolas Matinpalo on defense and Zack Ostapchuk up front, so depth trades could be a priority.

Ottawa hasn’t made the playoffs since 2017-18, so expect GM Steve Staios to make whatever moves he feels his team needs to get back to the postseason. The most likely ones, if he can find a partner, would be to acquire a righty-shooting defenseman and/or a wing who can score.

Columbus Blue Jackets (26-19-7; 4th in Metro, first wild card)
Deadline cap space: $46,151,240

After their best player, forward Johnny Gaudreau, was killed in a cycling accident in late August, it would have been impossible to imagine that the Blue Jackets would be in the playoff hunt. But the Blue Jackets continue to ride a sensational season by defenseman Zach Werenski and breakout seasons by young players such as Kirill Marchenko as they battle for a playoff berth that few, if anyone, thought they even had a chance to earn.

Columbus opened its four-game road trip Thursday with a 2-1 overtime win at Vegas to move back into the second wild card, then rallied for a 3-2 victory against the Utah Hockey Club on Friday to gran the first wild-card berth

The Blue Jackets expect the return of captain Boone Jenner and rugged defenseman Eric Gudbranson will add some toughness to the lineup. But if GM Don Waddell goes shopping, don’t be surprised if he looks for big forwards who can produce some offense and offer some protection for the kids.

The one veteran Waddell may be willing to trade is defenseman Ivan Provorov, an impending UFA who has said he wants to stay. Cap space isn’t an issue, but if Waddell is afraid of losing him in free agency without any return, the 28-year-old would likely bring back a significant haul in talent and draft picks.

TSN’s Pierre Lebrun reported Thursday that the Blue Jackets are speaking with the Canucks about Elias Pettersson, in what would be a massive move on their part if a trade is consummated.

Tampa Bay Lightning (27-20-3; 4th in Atlantic; second wild card)
Deadline cap space: $1,792,070

Few general managers have been more willing that Tampa Bay’s Julien BriseBois to go for it as the trade deadline nears. Whether he’ll have the assets – the Lightning are without their first-round draft pick — and cap room to do more than tinker around the edges is the question.

If an NHL roster had 10-12 players, the Lightning would be in great shape. They have Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli up front, Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Erik Cernak and J.J. Moser (when he returns from injury) on defense and Andrei Vasilevskiy in goal. Vasilevskiy was in goal for a 3-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.

Shutout hugs are the BEST hugs pic.twitter.com/vxCvVhguWV

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) January 31, 2025

The problem is that after third-line center Nick Paul, there’s no scoring depth in the bottom six. Expect BriseBois to try to bring in a low-priced two-way forward who can mesh with Paul and give the top six some support. Perhaps, that player could be two-time Stanley Cup champion Brandon Saad, who had his contract terminated with the St. Louis Blues this week but still appears to have something left in the tank on a League minimum deal.

In the chase

Boston Bruins (25-22-6; 5th in Atlantic, ninth in East; 1 point out of wild card)
Deadline cap space: $5,718,334

The Bruins are hanging on in the race despite a minus-29 goal differential. It’s hard to see that lasting unless GM Don Sweeney makes some moves. Firing the coach won’t help — he did that in November by sacking Jim Montgomery.

Sweeney opened his checkbook last summer with the thought that bringing in Elias Lindholm would fill the hole at No. 1 center. That hasn’t happened; Lindholm has been demoted to the third line, with Pavel Zacha manning the top spot between David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie. Zacha is a useful player, but he’s not an ideal No. 1 center. The two goaltenders, Jeremy Swayman and Joonas Korpisalo, each has a save percentage below .900.

Boston will look for an offense-minded center. Finding one isn’t likely to be easy, even if the Bruins are willing to give up a first-round pick this year or next. With the Bruins having already played 53 times, every contender has games in hand on them – some have two or three. If his team continues to struggle, Sweeney could be a seller instead of a buyer.

Detroit Red Wings (25-21-5; 6th in Atlantic, 10th in East, 2 points out of wild card)
Deadline cap space: $8,397,971

The Wings appeared to be headed for their ninth straight non-playoff season when they reached the Christmas break at 13-17-4. But GM Steve Yzerman changed coaches, firing Derek Lalonde and bringing in Todd McLellan, and Detroit has looked like a different team since then. They won their fourth in a row on Thursday by overcoming an early two-goal deficit to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 in a shootout to begin a four-game trip. The win moved the Red Wings within two points of the second wild card.

With his team so close to making the playoffs for the first time since 2016, it’s hard to imagine Yzerman being a seller (as it appeared he might be five weeks ago). If he adds, expect him to look for a scorer who can help not only this season but for years to come.

Whether that kind of player is available during the season is a separate issue, but the Wings need to add offense behind Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat — all three have reached the 20-goal mark; no one else on the team has hit double figures.

New York Islanders (23-20-7; 5th in Metro, 11th in East, 4 points out of wild card)
Deadline cap space: $1,806,667

The Isles made it six wins in a row and nine in their past 11 games with a 3-0 victory against the Flyers in Philadelphia on Thursday. They still don’t score much, and their power play is horrendous, but coach Patrick Roy has them playing terrific defense (seven goals allowed during the winning streak) and they’ve leap-frogged the Rangers, among other teams, to give themselves a chance at a wild-card berth.

Hug. Your. Goalie. pic.twitter.com/x6w2UyvsQM

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) January 31, 2025

The Islanders have the League’s fourth-oldest roster, almost no cap space and a weak prospect pool, so GM Lou Lamoriello doesn’t have much to work with. However, he’s found bargain-basement pickups Tony DeAngelo and Scott Perunovich to plug the holes on defense left by injuries to Noah Dobson and Ryan Pulock, who should be back at some point. The Isles added another bargain-basement veteran D-man Friday when they claimed Adam Boqvist from the Florida Panthers.

If Lamoriello decides to sell, he has veterans such as centers Brock Nelson and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, as well as forward Kyle Palmieri, who should attract a lot of attention and bring in some more much-needed young talent.

Montreal Canadiens (24-22-5; 7th in Atlantic, 12th in East, 4 points out of wild card)
Deadline cap space: $6,447,500

The Canadiens were flying high about 10 days ago, 10-2-1 in their first 13 games after the Christmas break. Then reality hit: Montreal is 0-3-1 in its past four games, including a 4-0 home loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.

It’s hard to imagine the rebuilding Canadiens, led by former Rangers GM Jeff Gorton and loaded with young talent, doing any serious shopping. The lone exception might be on defense, where they need a right-handed shot to allow lefty-shooting Mike Matheson to go back to his natural side. The Canadiens also need to replace Kaiden Guhle, who’s out indefinitely after surgery to repair a lacerated quadriceps muscle.

Montreal has a lot of rentals, including veteran forwards Jake Evans and Joel Armia, as well as defenseman David Savard, who should attract interest if it decides to go in that direction.

Philadelphia Flyers (23-24-6; 7th in Metro, 14th in East, 5 points out of wild card)
Deadline cap space: $5,023,177

The rebuilding Flyers have lost four of their past five games after a 5-0-1 run that got them into the playoff race. Philadelphia desperately needs to get better up the middle; until that happens, it’s hard to envision the Flyers not falling out of the race in the next couple of weeks.

They got a head start on the deadline Thursday by sending a pair of 25-year-old forwards, Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost, to the Calgary Flames for forwards Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier, plus two draft picks.

Here's the heated exchange between John Tortorella and Matvei Michkov after the first Islanders goal. #Flyers pic.twitter.com/lDOFXC4WSc

— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) January 31, 2025

GM Daniel Briere doesn’t have any pending unrestricted free agents. Players who’ve been mentioned in trade talk (Rasmus Ristolainen and Scott Laughton are two of the most talked-about) have term left on their contracts, which figures to diminish interest.

Don’t be surprised if Briere does some more selling before the deadline as he prepares for the Draft in June, where he’ll have three first-round picks and four more in the second round.

The Rangers gave up the first of two goals by Andrei Svechnikov 56 seconds after the opening face-off and spent the rest of the night chasing the game. But few of their shots severely tested Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen before the ’Canes put the game away with three goals in 3:01 of playing time bridging the second and third periods. Svechnikov got his second of the night at 19:29 of the second and assisted on Sebastian Aho’s goal 1:04 into the third.

Seth Jarvis’ goal at 2:30 started a parade to the Garden exits not long afterward.

Fortunately for the Rangers, all but one of the six teams in the playoff scramble who played Tuesday and Wednesday also lost, meaning that while New York missed a golden chance to gain ground, it didn’t lose any. The only playoff hopeful to win was the Islanders, who made it five victories in a row when they defeated the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 at UBS Arena on Tuesday. They are a point behind their big-city rivals.

However, the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens all lost on Tuesday, followed by the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday.

The Bruins, who own the first wild card, were demolished 7-2 in Buffalo, where Sabres forward Tage Thompson and J.J. Peterka each had a hat trick. The Lightning returned home from a four-game road trip and lost 4-1 to the 31st-place Chicago Blackhawks, and the Canadiens lost 4-1 at Bell Centre to the Winnipeg Jets. The New Jersey Devils, who lost 4-2 in Philadelphia on Monday, avenged that loss by blanking the Flyers two nights later.

The Rangers (24-22-4) finished January with an 8-3-3 record — although if they miss the playoffs, the points they left on the table might be the reason. The Rangers dropped OT decisions to the Dallas Stars, the Avalanche and the Canadiens, all in games they led well into the third period. Add that to the 5-4 loss to Colorado on Sunday, a game they allowed the Avalanche to score the game-winner with 14.7 seconds left, and it’s safe to say the Rangers can’t be happy about the points they’ve let get away.

Now it’s time for some serious scoreboard watching. The Rangers are in the midst of a three-day break in the schedule before they begin a stretch of five games in eight days prior to the 4 Nations Face-off break. The Rangers visit the Bruins on Saturday afternoon, followed by a game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday to get the final stretch underway.

Between the pipes. pic.twitter.com/EuezAdX0gp

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) January 29, 2025

Here’s a look at the playoff scramble in the East (all records through Wednesday’s games).

Related: Mind-numbing Rangers mistakes threatening to finally sink season

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 (34-11-5) are the leaders in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy, the Hurricanes (31-16-4) are second in the division and the Devils (29-18-6) trail them by two points.

The Devils lead everyone else in the division by at least nine points, which gives them some runway as they continue to deal with the loss of starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who was ruled out of the 4 Nations tournament on Wednesday because of a sprained knee ligament sustained in a 5-1 win against Boston on Jan. 22. Jake Allen is 2-1-0 in three starts since Markstrom’s injury and will be expected to carry the load. He made 24 saves to shut out the Flyers on Wednesday.

However, as long as Markstrom doesn’t miss more time than expected (4-6 weeks), it’s hard to imagine the Rangers (or anyone else) being able to overtake the Devils.

Related: Rangers look to ‘keep the positivity’ heading into February schedule

Ahead of the Rangers (current wild cards)

Boston Bruins (25-21-6, 56 points)

The Bruins were 5-1-1 in their previous seven games before they got torched in Buffalo. The Sabres lit up Jeremy Swayman for six goals on 32 shots, and David Pastrnak, the NHL First Star last week, was limited to a garbage-time second assist.

Boston goes home for its next three games, hosting the Jets on Thursday before the Rangers come in two days later. The Minnesota Wild visit TD Garden on Feb. 4 before the Bruins come to the Garden for a back-to-back the next night.

The Rangers edged the Bruins 2-1 at the Garden on Jan. 2 and go to Boston for their nationally televised matinee before hosting them four nights later.

Tampa Bay Lightning (26-20-3, 55 points)

It’s hard to imagine than any of the 19,092 fans at Amalie Arena on Tuesday gave the Blackhawks, who are next-to-last in the overall standings, a chance to win. Though the Lightning lost three of four games on the road last week, winning only a 4-3 overtime decision at Chicago last Friday, they were expected to make quick work of the Blackhawks in their return home.

Instead, Chicago spotted Tampa Bay an early goal by Brayden Point before a spectacular shot by Connor Bedard tied the game, and scored three more times for Arvid Soderblom, who made 34 saves in the stunning win.

Tampa Bay plays its next four games at home, beginning Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings. The Islanders come in Saturday and the Ottawa Senators, who’ve jumped the Lightning for third place in the Atlantic Division behind the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs, play back-to-back games in Tampa on Feb. 4 and 6.

The Rangers lost 6-2 at Amalie Arena on Dec. 28. Tampa Bay comes to the Garden twice in the final 10 days of the regular season.

Ahead of the Rangers (but not in the playoffs)

Columbus Blue Jackets (24-19-7, 55 points)

The Blue Jackets have had to sit and watch the scoreboard since Saturday night, when they defeated the Kings 3-2 in overtime on a goal by Kirill Marchenko. That one home game is sandwiched between a pair of four-game road trips.

Columbus was 1-2-1 on the first trip, including a 1-0 shootout loss to the Rangers at the Garden on Jan. 18. They’re off until Thursday, when the second four-gamer begins against the Golden Knights.

The Rangers and Blue Jackets have three games remaining. The next one is in Columbus on Feb. 8 and is 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 (24-21-5, 53 points)

The Canadiens stole a point Saturday when they overcame a pair of two-goal deficits before losing 4-3 in overtime to the Devils at Bell Centre. But they were beaten soundly at home three nights later by the high-flying Jets, the best team in the Western Conference.

Montreal hosts Minnesota on Thursday 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 gotten back into the playoff race 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 10 days ago.

Detroit Red Wings (24-21-5, 53 points)

The Red Wings continued their post-Christmas surge under new coach Todd McLellan on Monday by rallying from an early two-goal deficit for a 5-2 win against the Kings. Lucas Raymond, who continues to blossom into an offensive force, had a goal and three assists. Detroit has won three in a row, all with Cam Talbot in goal, to move within two points of the second wild card.

The Red Wings head out for a four-game 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.

Tied with or trailing the Rangers

We’ll assume that the Pittsburgh Penguins (50 points in 53 games) and the Sabres (43 in 50 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 two other teams that are even or just behind the Rangers and still hold realistic playoff hopes.

Philadelphia Flyers (23-23-6, 52 points)

The Flyers looked like they might be ready to fold after back-to-back road losses against the Rangers (6-1) on Thursday and the Islanders (3-1) on Friday. But a couple of days off appeared to give them a spark on Monday, when they knocked off the Devils 4-2 at Wells Fargo Center in the first of a home-and-home set, only to lose 5-0 in Newark on Wednesday.

The Flyers return home to host the Islanders on Thursday before visiting Colorado on Sunday.

The Flyers’ split with the Devils and the Rangers loss to the Hurricanes left the two Metropolitan Division rivals tied, three points out of the second wild card — although the Rangers have played two fewer games.

The Rangers and Flyers have split two games this season. The Flyers won 3-1 at Wells Fargo Center on Black Friday before losing at the Garden last week. The teams don’t play again until the Flyers come to the Garden on April 9.

New York Islanders (22-20-7, 51 points)

The Islanders have worked their way onto the fringes of the playoff chase in the East by winning five straight games, all at home, giving them eight wins in their past 10 games. They got a superb effort by Ilya Sorokin on Tuesday in the win against Colorado and have allowed just seven goals during the winning streak.

PUCKS ON NET. #LGI | @Ford pic.twitter.com/Y0K0gtanq3

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) January 29, 2025

However, injuries have hampered the Isles all season, and they lost a couple of key pieces — defensemen Noah Dobson and Ryan Pulock — last week. They were also without backup goalie Marcus Hogberg on Tuesday after he was removed before the start of overtime Saturday in a 3-2 win against Carolina because of 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, beginning Saturday at Tampa Bay.

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.

Neither has played in the NHL. The Rangers assigned Edmonds to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League.

Edmonds, who turns 24 on Monday, has skated in 26 games for the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League this season. He has scored one goal and has four assists. The native of North Bay, Ontario, was selected by Tampa Bay in the third round (No. 86) of the 2022 NHL Draft. He is in his third pro season and had 48 points (25 goals, 23 assists) in 120 AHL games – all with Syracuse, the Lightning’s top affiliate.

#NYR have acquired forward Lucas Edmonds from Tampa Bay in exchange for Ryder Korczak. pic.twitter.com/Ityc8e9DtV

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) January 25, 2025

His best season was 2022-23, when he had 27 points (15 goals, 12 assists) in 49 games — leading all Crunch rookies in points and tying for fifth on the team in goals.

Related: Rangers have big decisions to make on defensemen before, after NHL trade deadline

Rangers latest acquisition had big season in OHL as overage player

The 5-foot-11, 178-pound forward played in Sweden, including time against grown men, until 2021-22, when he was invited to join the Kingston Frontenacs of Ontario Hockey League as an overage player and had 113 points (34 goals, 79 assists) in 68 games. He finished third in the league in points and first in assists, winning the Jim Mahon Trophy as the OHL’s top scoring right wing.

Korczak played in 35 games with Hartford this season, putting up 14 points (three goals, eight assists) with 14 penalty minutes and a plus-4 rating. The 5-foot-11, 172-pound forward has skated in 107 AHL games, all with Hartford; he had 12 goals, three on the power play, and 31 points with 42 penalty minutes. He made his Calder Cup Playoffs debut last season with the Wolf Pack, finishing with one goal and one assist in 10 postseason games.

The native of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, was selected by the Rangers in the third round (No. 75) of the 2021 draft.

MSG’s Joe Micheletti spoke for thousands of Rangers fans with that remark early in the telecast of their team’s 6-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night. With most of the teams the Rangers are battling in the Eastern Conference playoff race in action, it would be hard to blame those in the sellout crowd of 18,006 from keeping one eye peeled for out-of-town results.

The victory against the Flyers extended the Rangers’ point streak to 10 games (7-0-3). The Rangers are off until the Colorado Avalanche come to town Sunday afternoon, so you can bet that they’ll be eagerly following the out-of-town action again on Saturday. The Carolina Hurricanes visit on Tuesday, and the Rangers then get three days off.

As for the game Thursday: Igor Shesterkin continued his superb play, finishing with 33 saves to extend his point streak to 6-0-1 as the Rangers improved to 24-20-4 – the same record as the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators, each of whom lost on the road when the Rangers were winning at home.

The Avs and Hurricanes will look different than the last time the Rangers saw them. Colorado traded high-scoring forward Mikko Rantanen to the Hurricanes on Friday night for Carolina’s top scorer, forward Martin Necas, and center Jack Drury. The ‘Canes also added forward Taylor Hall from the Chicago Blackhawks. All four players should be with their new teams by the time they arrive at MSG.

Here’s an updated look at the playoff scramble in the East (all records through Friday’s games):

READ: Daily — Rangers making contenders look like pretenders, Gary Bettman retirement talk

Metropolitan Division top three

None of the top three teams in the Metropolitan Division look like they’ll be threatened by anyone below them. The Washington Capitals are the leaders in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy, the Hurricanes are second in the division and the New Jersey Devils trail them by three points.

#NJDevils head coach Sheldon Keefe said Jacob Markstrom “will miss some time” following his injury in the second period of tonight’s game.https://t.co/FiNg3cdD1y

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) January 23, 2025

The third-place Devils lead everyone else in the division by at least seven points, although starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom is out 4-6 weeks with a sprained left MCL. Markstrom was injured and had to leave early in the second period of New Jersey’s 5-1 win against the Bruins on Wednesday; Jake Allen finished the game and will be relied upon to carry the load in Markstrom’s absence.

The 34-year-old should be back before the playoffs but this next month could prove interesting. If the Rangers remain hot and the Devils falter without their No. 1 goalie, a top-three spot in the division is not out of the question for the Blueshirts, who have two games in hand on their Hudson River rivals.

Ahead of the Rangers (current wild cards)

Boston Bruins (24-20-6, 54 points)

A 2-0 win over the visiting Senators on Thursday nudged the Bruins past the Tampa Bay Lightning and into third place in the Atlantic Division, behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers — for one night. But the Lightning (26-18-3) jumped back into third on Friday by rallying for a 4-3 overtime road win against the Chicago Blackhawks, dropping Boston back to the top wild card. The Lightning also have three games in hand on the Bruins and at least one on all the other playoff contenders as they prepare for the second of back-to-back road games against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night.

Tampa Bay is coming off losses at Toronto and Montreal earlier in the week, but the Lightning’s .585 points percentage is sixth in the conference, and it’s hard to believe they won’t end up in the top three in their division.

However, the Rangers, Canadiens and Senators each have two games in hand on Boston.

The Rangers edged the Bruins 2-1 at the Garden on Jan. 2 and go to Boston a week from Saturday before hosting them four nights later. New York lost 6-2 at Tampa Bay on Dec. 28 and plays the Lightning twice in the final 10 days of the season.

Columbus Blue Jackets (23-19-7, 53 points)

Columbus dropped from the first wild card to the second after blowing a 2-0 lead in Raleigh on the way to a 7-4 loss to Carolina on Thursday that completed a 1-2-1, six-day road trip – including a 1-0 shootout loss to the Rangers on Jan. 18. The one win was a 5-1 victory in Toronto on Wednesday, with hometown boy Adam Fantilli getting his first NHL hat trick.

But the Blue Jackets can keep their suitcases packed; after a home game against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, they’re back on the road for four more games, beginning Jan. 30 against Vegas. Their last game before the 4 Nations break is against the Rangers on Feb. 8. Columbus comes to the Garden again on March 9 and hosts the Rangers six nights later.

Now’s a good time to point out that the Blue Jackets are 7-14-4 on the road this season.

Even with the Rangers

Montreal Canadiens (24-20-4, 52 points)

Even with a 4-2 loss at Detroit on Thursday, the Canadiens are 10-3-1 since the Christmas break – including a 5-4 overtime win against the Rangers at Bell Centre this past Sunday. They host New Jersey on Saturday.

The Canadiens, seeking their first playoff berth since losing to the Lightning in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, have come together under former Rangers forward Martin St. Louis after a 5-11-2 start that looked like it would doom them to another early summer.

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.

Ottawa Senators (24-20-4, 52 points)

The Senators were on a 5-0-1 run before their offense disappeared in the past two games; they were shut out 5-0 at the Garden on Tuesday before being blanked 2-0 in Boston on Thursday. They hope playing back-to-back home games against the archrival Maple Leafs on Saturday and Utah on Sunday will help perk things up.

Though this won’t help the offense, Ottawa is hoping that No. 1 goalie Linus Ullmark, who’s been out injuring his back Dec. 23, will be ready to return shortly. Rookie Leevi Merilainen preserved the Senators’ playoff chances with a 6-3-1 record and two shutouts in Ullmark’s absence, but he struggled in his past two games and could be headed back to the AHL when Ullmark is ready to go.

New York defeated Ottawa 2-1 on Nov. 1 in their only meeting before this week’s win; New York makes its lone visit to Canadian Tire Centre on March 8.

Behind the Rangers

We’ll assume that the New York Islanders (47 points) and Buffalo Sabres (41), 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 Saturday trailing the Rangers but still hold realistic playoff hopes.

Philadelphia Flyers (22-22-6, 50 points)

The Flyers’ loss at the Garden on Thursday dropped them two points behind the Rangers. The loss also ended a 5-0-1 run by Philadelphia after the Flyers looked like they might be falling out of the race two weeks ago.

Thursday began a busy stretch for coach John Tortorella’s team. The Flyers lost 3-1 to the Islanders at UBS Arena on Friday, then have a home-and-home against the Devils and host the Islanders on Jan. 30 – that’s five games in eight days. The Rangers don’t see them again until the Flyers come to the Garden on April 9.

Detroit Red Wings (22-21-5, 49 points)

The Wings are still looking to host their first playoff game at Little Caesars Arena, which opened in the fall of 2016, but it’s going to be an uphill battle. Detroit ran off a seven-game winning streak under new coach Todd McLellan, then was 1-3-1 in the next five games before defeating the visiting Canadiens on Thursday.

The pass. The finish. 🤌 pic.twitter.com/6ainBoJTQF

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 24, 2025

The Red Wings have home games against the Lightning on Saturday and the Kings on Monday before a swing through Western Canada and Seattle. The Rangers swept the three games between the teams in a season series that ended before Veterans Day, outscoring the Red Wings 13-3.

Pittsburgh Penguins (20-22-8, 48 points)

The Penguins have three games remaining on their marathon seven-game road trip that will take them through the end of January. They followed up one of their best efforts of the season, a 5-1 whipping of the Kings in Los Angeles on Monday, with a 5-1 clunker Thursday against the Anaheim Ducks, a team all but assured of missing the playoffs for the seventh straight season.

That loss dropped the Penguins two games below NHL .500, and they likely need to win at least two of the remaining three, beginning Saturday night against the Seattle Kraken, to stay in the hunt.

The Rangers are 2-0-0 against the Penguins, winning 6-0 in Pittsburgh on opening night and 4-2 at the Garden on Dec. 6. The teams play again at MSG on Feb. 7 and in Pittsburgh on Feb. 23.