Twenty Games Left
The Olympics are over, and the Rangers push for the playoffs will begin tomorrow in Ottawa. The Rangers currently sit in 10th in the East, with a record of 28-27-7 and 63 points. This puts the Rangers one point behind the 8th place Montreal Canadiens, with a game in hand. The Rangers will also have to leap frog the surprising Tampa Bay Lightning, who also have 63 points, but two games in hand on the Rangers.
In the next 40 days, our beloved Blueshirts will play 20 games. That is a possible 40 points to be earned by the Rangers in this stretch. Considering the way the standings sit, I am guessing that a total of 95 points to be guaranteed a playoff spot, but 93 points should be enough for the #8 seed. That means the Rangers will need to earn 32 points to be in, and 30 points to be on the bubble. That is no easy task.
Of these 20 games, a whopping 12 of them will be against teams currently in the playoffs. An additional two games are against teams just out of the playoffs, and only 8 of these games will be at the friendly confines of MSG. Putting these games aside for a moment, this means that the Rangers must, absolutely must, win all six games against the non-playoff teams (St. Louis, Islanders x 2, Toronto x 2, Florida). That gives the Rangers 12 points. Of the remaining 14 games, the Rangers will need 18 more points out of the possible 28 to just be on the bubble for the post season.
There are two separate stretches that will define the Rangers playoff drive, the first one begins tomorrow in Ottawa, where the Rangers begin a stretch of five games where the weakest opponent will be the Buffalo Sabres, who are securely in the playoffs. The second stretch begins on March 25, where the Rangers will play six straight road games, of which three will be against playoff teams.
The team is going to need stellar performances from Henrik Lundqvist, but will also need some quality starts from newly acquired Alex Auld. If the Rangers add some offense and a crease clearing defenseman at the deadline, then anything is possible.


