40-17-4

Just two games this week with revenge on Columbus to make the February record 10-1. The score was 4-1, but that’s with two empty net goals and the game felt like it could slip away at any moment. Columbus couldn’t clear that hurtle this time which brings us to tonight’s nailbiter against Toronto.

4-3 shoot out win for Toronto. This one felt more or less like a playoff game. Very close through the whole game with neither team holding on to more than a one-goal lead for too long. It started with the Rangers goal, then Toronto tied it in the second period. Rangers took the lead back quickly but Toronto tied it up again. In the third, Toronto took the lead in the first quarter of the game and it wasn’t until 1:08 left that Trocheck tied the game with the goalie pulled. Rangers dominated OT but couldn’t take the win. The shootout was very close with Toronto getting 2 goals in 4 rounds.

It was an exciting game from start to finish, evenly matched for sure. It felt like each team made the same amount of mistakes which kept everyone on their toes. Toronto had 2 deflection goals so no fault on Igor there. Lafreniere is on fire along with Trocheck. This one just slipped away from them. This is the type of game where we all expect Kreider and Zibanejad to hit the star power for a goal but it didn’t happen. The first line not scoring is now the biggest problem. Managing a point was important at least. It secured second place in the league with Florida now on top for the first time this season by two points. The big surprise today was the Islanders easily beating Boston (5-1) and Buffalo running over Las Vegas (7-2). Looking at the standings now, Las Vegas has lost the most footing out of all of the top teams this month. Boston keeps going to overtime, they’re tied with the Islanders in OT points (14) which is keeping them in the top 3 of the league.

The trade deadline is in a week and the strong rumors are that the Rangers’ front office has their eye on two Ducks players. I don’t think we’ll be waiting a week for a deal to happen. We’re going to need additional firepower because…

….while the Rangers coasted through February, the schedule for March is a different story. The team will need to get all their rest in the first week because 11-23 is a gauntlet. 8 games in 13 days. I mean look at this:

And then it’s only two days off in a row and right back into every other night. None of those games will be anywhere close to easy. The hope is that NJ, Pittsburg, and St. Louis keep falling over themselves, but two of those are major rivalries so their effort will be boosted no matter what. Aside from that, it isn’t until the last game of the month against Arizona that there’s a massive advantage.