Rangers' playoff hopes take a major hit after loss to Maple Leafs

Just a year removed from winning the Presidents' Trophy after finishing with the NHL's best record and playing in the Eastern Conference Final, the New York Rangers are facing the reality that they could miss the playoffs entirely this season. 

It is also starting to look like that it might actually happen, especially after Thursday's slate of games, which went about as poorly as they could have gone for the Rangers and their playoff chances.

Not only did they fall, 4-3, to the Toronto Maple Leafs, losing for the seventh time in their past nine games, but every other team that they are competing with for a wild-card spot gained at least one point on the night. 

That leaves the Rangers in a pretty big hole.

Along with the Rangers' loss, the Columbus Blue Jackets gained a point in their 1-0 overtime defeat to the Florida Panthers, while both the New York Islanders and Montreal Canadiens gained points in the Islanders' 4-3 overtime win over the Canadiens.

The Canadiens still have a hold on the second wild-card spot with 74 points. The Rangers sit just behind them and are now tied with the Islanders at 72 points. 

While that is only a two-point gap, the issue is much worse than just that. It is a numbers game. Specifically, the number of games remaining.

The Rangers, with 70 games played, have played more contests than every other team in the wild-card race and have the fewest games remaining (12). That means fewer opportunities to gain points, and more opportunities for their competitors to gain ground (or increase their lead).

If you look at the wild-card standings by points percentage, the Canadiens still hold that spot with a .544 mark. Then you have the Islanders at .529, the Blue Jackets at .522, the Detroit Red Wings at .515 and lastly the Rangers at .514.

That means by points percentage there are four teams standing between the Rangers and a playoff spot, while each of them has two games in hand. 

It gets worse for New York. Not only are the Rangers facing a deficit, and not only does everybody else have two additional games to play, New York only has one head-to-head game with all of those teams remaining, a road game against the Islanders. Making up even a two-or three-point gap this late in the season is difficult. The fastest and best way to do so is with head-to-head games, but the Rangers do not even have that in their corner. 

Based on current point paces, the cut-off line in the Eastern Conference would likely be 89 points for Montreal given its .545 points percentage. 

That means the Rangers would have to reach 90 points to finish ahead of the Habs. New York would need to win, at a minimum, nine of its remaining 12 games to do that. Given the way it is playing, however, that is a big ask.

Even with its success a year ago the Rangers were a very flawed team that was entirely dependent on their elite goaltending and power play units to win. The defensive play was bad, the 5-on-5 play was bad and it was a continuation of the same problems that have held them back for years. 

This season they are not getting the goaltending or the power play successes to make up for it. This is the result.