Division games hold key for Rangers
New York Rangers goalie Martin Biron, right, looks at New Jersey Devils' Patrik Elias, of Czech Republic, during the second period. (Jan. 31, 2012) Credit: AP
I feel like I am watching everything from space,
And in a minute, I'll hear my name and I'll wake,
I think the finish line's a good place we could start
-- Snow Patrol
Ah yes, the NHL finish line. Coming up fast.
After Sunday's game against the Flyers, the Rangers have 32 games left and 11 are against Atlantic Division opponents -- four against the Devils, three against the Penguins, two against the Flyers and two against the Islanders. The Rangers were 9-2-1 in the division entering Sunday's game, but the division could very well be won or lost in this segment. Six wins might be enough, given the cushion.
Plus: Of the 32 games, 18 are home, 14 are away. Four of the road games are bus or train journeys: two to Philadelphia, one to Newark and one to Uniondale. Another is to Boston.
Plus: Fourteen of those 32 games are against teams currently out of the playoff mix in the East and West. Another chance to pick up critical points.
Draw: Twenty-five games, including the only four in April, are against Eastern Conference teams; seven are against the West. The schedulemakers divvy this up the same across the board.
Minus: The three long trips contain back-to-backs in March: Carolina-Tampa, Ottawa-Chicago and Minnesota-Winnipeg.
Minus: As the Insider previously has detailed, March is brutal: 17 games in 30 days. "I look at the last half of March through April and we're not going to have many practice days at all," coach John Tortorella said Saturday, "so we're trying to use these days for reminders and details."
The playoffs begin April 11.
Fedora-tenko
The Broadway Hat, a beat-up black fedora that Brad Richards brought back from Sweden to be passed along to the player of the game after a win, isn't the first such postgame prize in the NHL.
In recent years, the Capitals awarded a hard hat, the Blackhawks had a boxing championship belt, and the Penguins had a shovel.
Henrik Lundqvist has donned the lid five times; eight players have worn it for the postgame interviews: Richards, Marian Gaborik, Dan Girardi, Ruslan Fedotenko, Ryan Callahan, Michael Del Zotto, Brandon Dubinsky and Derek Stepan. Eleven players have worn it once.
Of the regulars, three defensemen have yet to be given the Hat, which has become, shall we say, a little ratty: Most surprisingly, Ryan McDonagh, who deserved it several times; Marc Staal, who has played just 13 games since returning from post-concussion syndrome; and rookie Stu Bickel.
Trade winds
Still believe the Rangers will try to land an experienced defenseman, as well as a forward by the Feb. 27 trading deadline. According to capgeek.com, the Rangers can currently absorb an annualized cap hit of $4.4 million and even more at the deadline, about $6.9 million. That's because the salary owed a player to be acquired decreases as it is calculated daily as the season winds down. As discussed here and on Blue Notes and Twitter, Phoenix forward Shane Doan would be ideal as a rental, but he's the captain of the Coyotes and would have to waive his no-trade. Carolina's Tuomo Ruutu can score and I wouldn't doubt Buffalo's Brad Boyes will be on the move. He nearly had two goals against the Rangers on Wednesday, but Lundqvist made two highlight-reel stops.
Blue notes
Wojtek Wolski (goal) and Jeff Woywitka (assist), assigned to AHL Hartford for conditioning, combined on the winning goal in their first appearance Friday night. Mats Zuccarello had two assists . . . Sam Gagner had eight points (four goals, four assists) for the Oilers against the Blackhawks on Thursday; Steve Vickers owns the Rangers record with seven points (three goals, four assists) against Washington at the Garden on Feb. 18, 1976 . . . Tortorella indicated Saturday that he has considered reuniting Artem Anisimov with Marian Gaborik and Derek Stepan. "They carried us for a little while," he said. "But do I take away [Carl] Hagelin, who has got speed and who has been pretty good there?" Anisimov is playing with Richards and Ryan Callahan. Don't really see Hagelin as a fit there. Anisimov needs to score to help his confidence, and he'll be fine with Richards and Callahan. The other fellow who needs some confidence offensively is Dubinsky, who signed a four-year, $16.8-million deal last summer and is the definition of up-and-down.
