37-17-5

Off a four game road trip the Rangers went 2-2. First winning against Winnipeg and then two losses against Minnesota and St. Louis. The losses were terrible, some of the worst games they’ve played. With the team giving up a lot in these past few seasons, it’s easy to overreact and say the sky is falling. To date, the Rangers have not lost more than two games in a row this season. After getting laid out by St. Louis (due to horrific defense), the Rangers rallied to beat Dallas in dramatic fashion.

This team is truly different from immediate seasons. They are better, but the flaws are obvious as they have been. Igor is world-class levels of talent in net. Alexander is good as well, but he’s not Igor. There are like 3 goalies in the NHL who can match him. Alex’s big problem is that he plays so infrequently, he can’t find his game. He’s very momentum-based. It takes him time to find his groove and he’s rough when in that process. When he stabilizes, he can achieve his true potential. He doesn’t want to be a backup. It’s likely this is his last season as a Ranger. I don’t think he’ll be moved at the trade deadline because right now there’s no one out there to take his place that would be a marked improvement.

The other problem is scoring depth. The top 2 lines are the only ones scoring goals and that doesn’t win in the playoffs. Too much weight is being put on the top 6 and it’s showing. They’re getting worn out playing 25+ minutes a night. They’ll be burned out when the playoffs start. 5-on-5 goals are too infrequent which then shifts the onus on the power play to pick up the slack. It’s worked a lot so far (2nd in the league!), but you can’t rely on special teams to win games in the long run. It needs to be part of the game plan, not the pillar. Coach Gallant recognizes this and he’s trying to get more bodies on the ice to spread out the load. You want these guys to suddenly find their games but that’s not realistic. The mixture of rookies who are learning and journeyman players who are just good enough to play in the NHL won’t get far in the playoffs. The entire team turned it around in Dallas and that’s the team that has to show up every night to keep up this train on the tracks. Every team lays an egg multiple times in a season, they’re just brutal to watch and only a real problem if the same mistakes keep being made. That’s how losing streaks happen.

We also need to appreciate the team. Their record is fantastic, the best in years. Having an all-star goalie isn’t a problem, he just needs to be able to rest. Yes, Igor bails them out of bad spots, but that’s his job. The goalie is the last line of defense. This season was all about making it to the playoffs for the first time in 5 seasons and that is going to happen bar any disasters. That’s a huge accomplishment. Everyone’s known there were holes in the roster starting this season and they’ve still done remarkably well. No one wants to be bounced in the first round and it’s possible that could happen depending on what the match-up ends up being. The East is full of killers, but the Rangers have shown they can compete.

I don’t think major trade moves are coming in the next week. I think Drury will put things in a holding pattern to see how it goes and then assets will be moved to plug the holes in the roster for next season. When Rooney and Kakko come back, he’ll get a full picture of where the team is and take it from there. Renting players for a fortune at the end of the season hasn’t worked at all for the Rangers and there is no reason to believe it will move the needle enough today. The team needs more than one very good center and defenseman. The pickings and price to pick those up this week will likely be too narrow and expensive.