Rangers can help decide first-round opponent: Capitals or Penguins
Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals skates against the New York Rangers during the second period at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022/ Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Rangers have, over and over, insisted they don’t care where they finish in the standings or who they play in the first round of the playoffs. All eight playoff teams in the Eastern Conference are good teams, they say.
But as they gear up to open the playoffs on Monday or Tuesday, it is still up in the air as to who the Rangers’ opponent will be. And thanks to some help from the Islanders Thursday night, the Rangers have control of who they will be playing when the playoffs begin Monday or Tuesday.
If the Rangers beat the Washington Capitals at Madison Square Garden Friday night, then they will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the playoffs. If the Rangers lose, and if the Penguins lose their game to the Columbus Blue Jackets, then the Rangers will face the Capitals.
The Islanders’ 5-1 victory over Washington Thursday left the Capitals one point behind Pittsburgh in the battle for third place in the Metropolitan Division. The Rangers, who are locked into second in the division, will face whichever team finishes third, while the fourth-place finisher will face the Atlantic Division leaders, the Florida Panthers.
Presumably, both the Caps and Pens would prefer to play the Rangers (51-24-6, 108 points) than the Panthers (58-17-6, 122 points). Florida had lost two straight before Thursday's 4-0 win over the Ottawa Senators, but they’d won 13 straight before that. The Rangers, 11-6-1 since the March 21 trade deadline, have lost three in a row.
For the Rangers, Pittsburgh looks like the easier matchup in the first round, because the Penguins are presently without No. 1 goalie Tristan Jarry, out week-to-week with a lower body injury that is rumored to be a broken foot. Pittsburgh is 4-7-1 over its last 12 games, while Washington is 7-3-2 in its last 12 games.
Also, for what it’s worth, the Rangers were 3-1 against Pittsburgh in the regular season. They are 1-1 against Washington entering Friday’s matchup.
The interesting question facing Rangers coach Gerard Gallant is what kind of lineup should he dress against Washington?
After Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp left Tuesday’s loss to Carolina with injuries, Gallant rested Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Jacob Trouba, Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren for Wednesday’s loss to last-place Montreal. And afterward, Gallant said the best thing about the Montreal game was that nobody got injured.
So will Gallant leave those core players out of the lineup Friday for safety reasons? Or will he put them back in the lineup for competitive reasons?
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
