The New York Rangers have 18 games remaining this season and if they have any chance of making the playoffs, they will have to try to get points out of each of those games. Coming out of the 2025 Trade Deadline, they had two games against the two teams they are currently fighting in the wild card race, the Ottawa Senators and the Columbus Blue Jackets. These were the two most important games of the season and if the Rangers could have beaten both of those teams, they would be sitting in a better spot as the top wild-card team in the Eastern Conference. Instead, they decided to play two of their worst games of the season and right now, they are on the outside looking in with an even tougher schedule ahead of them.
Rangers Put Themselves in a Tougher Situation
Now, you might be thinking how bad could it be because right now, they are only one point out of the wild-card spot. The problem is the Rangers allowed both the Senators and Blue Jackets to gain more points than them and both teams have games in hand. Both of these games were extremely winnable as well, but they let the game get away from them both times. In the game against the Senators, they had a 3-1 lead with less than 10 minutes left in the third period and they allowed the Sens to claw back and force the game into overtime. Then, a K’Andre Miller turnover allowed Brady Tkachuk to score the game-winning goal and instead of walking out with the win, they walked out with a “loser” point.
In the game against the Blue Jackets, both teams had their surges with Columbus having a 3-1 lead early in the second period and looking dominant. Then all of a sudden, the Rangers scored two short-handed goals on the same penalty kill, tied the game, and looked like they had all the momentum. Instead of building off of it, they failed to capitalize on their chances and Columbus scored two more goals before the end of the second and ended up winning the game 7-3.
These are the games in which the team misses Adam Fox. Despite him having a down season, he is by far the team’s best defenseman and not having him in these important games hurts this team more than they realize. The defensive play is what really let the team down in these two games, as they had no answers against the rush and when their opponents was were the crease. The defense is not good enough and something needs to change in the way they play if want any chance of making the playoffs. If they do end up missing by a couple of points, these are the games one can look back on and say “this is why they didn’t make it.” They didn’t capitalize on their chances to win these games and that could impact the rest of the season.
Rangers Have Tougher Schedule Ahead
The Rangers are not going to have an easy time down the stretch as a majority of their games are against teams currently in a playoff position or teams fighting to get into one. They have a record of 9-19-2 against teams in playoff position this season. Seven of their next 10 games will be against playoff teams, including the next six . This stretch of games is going to prove what this team is truly made of. Can they hang with the best in the league or will they continue to crumble against better competition? Despite going against much better teams, they need to have the same mindset that they can beat these teams and they need to if they want to make the playoffs.
Their next six opponents are the Winnipeg Jets, Minnesota Wild, Columbus Blue Jackets, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Of those six teams, the Rangers have beaten two of them this season the Leafs and Blue Jackets. They got smacked around by the Jets and Oilers earlier this season and lost a close game to the Flames in November. All of these teams would be playoff teams if the season ended today and they are fighting either to stay in a playoff spot or to get a better spot in the standings. Either way, the Rangers need to have a must-win mentality in each of these games because this stretch could determine their playoff lives. Of they falter, they are done for.
Rangers Need More From Their Top Players
If the Rangers have any chance of winning these games, it starts with better defensive play first, but they also need more from their top offensive players. Artemi Panarin has been playing well lately, with a five-game goal-scoring streak, but his linemates haven’t been carrying their weight. Vincent Trocheck hasn’t scored a goal in over a month and his last goal was 10 games ago. Alexis Lafreniere hasn’t scored in 12 games and ever since signing his long-term extension, he hasn’t looked like the player he was last season. That’s two of the top six forwards that haven’t been contributing offensively in over a month. Considering the lack of scoring from the bottom six, these are the games where the top players to start playing like it.
This line last season was one of the top-scoring lines in the entire league and now, they just seem like they lost everything that made them special. They failed to show up in the two most important games of the season and now, there is more pressure on them to show up in these upcoming games against some of the top teams in the league with their season on the line. If they can start scoring more and producing more offensively, the Rangers are going to have an easier time winning these games.
The Rangers are by no means out of the playoff race yet, but these two games were ones they needed to win if they wanted to have a better chance of making it in. They still have time to get the job done, but the upcoming stretch won’t be easy. They have to play these games with everything they have because one mistake could lead to the team’s downfall. It doesn’t matter how they get into the playoffs. All that matters is that they get in because once a team makes the playoffs, anything can happen.
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