Rangers are positioned to move up in standings

Things can change quickly in a playoff race. A week or so ago, the last time the Rangers played the Pittsburgh Penguins, the hype was all about the battle between the teams for second place in the Metropolitan Division, with the teams likely to face each other in the first round of the playoffs. Home-ice advantage would go to the team that finished second.

But on Thursday, when the teams met for the final time this season at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers started the game with a four-point lead over the Penguins. A regulation win Thursday would put them six points ahead of Pittsburgh in the battle for second with 10 games to play.

“It's an important game for sure,’’ Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba said after Wednesday’s practice. “It's a four-point game. And there's a decent chance we end up playing them. So, there's definitely some ‘tone-setting.’ I wouldn't say it's just your average regular-season game.’’

There was even more to the game for the Rangers, though. The Rangers entered Thursday two points behind the division leaders, the Carolina Hurricanes, who played Buffalo on Thursday. So if the Blueshirts beat Pittsburgh, they could be tied for first in the division.

Not that Rangers coach Gerard Gallant was interested in talking about that, though.

“I just worry about [Thursday's] game,’’ Gallant said. “And I can't worry about Carolina being right there, and Pittsburgh just being a little bit behind. We just take it one game at a time. You play that game.

“Everybody knows, everybody's going to see it. It's going to be in the paper — this is where the Rangers are, and this is what it'll do if we win [Thursday],’’ he continued. “But as coaches, you prepare your players to get ready for a good Pittsburgh team . . . and then the points will take care of themselves, and the positioning will take care of itself.’’

Gallant’s mantra all along has been to try to win every game and finish as high as possible, without worrying about potential first-round playoff matchups. Every team that makes the playoffs will be a good team, he said, so it doesn’t matter who the Rangers face.

But is that really true, though?

The way the first round works, the top three teams in each division make the playoffs, and of the remaining teams in the conference, the two with the best records make the playoffs as wild cards. The division winner with the better record plays the wild-card team with the worse record, and the division winner with the worse record plays the wild-card team with the better record. The second and third teams in each division play each other.

So if the Rangers finish second in the Metro and the Penguins are third, they will play each other in the first round. But if the Rangers pass Carolina and finish first — and the Rangers and Hurricanes have two games left against each other — then the Rangers will likely be the second-best division winner and would face the wild-card team with the better record.

And right now, that is the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

Of course, there are plenty of games left to play and things will continue to change. Tampa Bay and Boston are battling for third place in the Atlantic, and there’s always the possibility that one of those teams, or both, could catch Toronto for second place in that division.

There’s also the distinct possibility the Rangers may not catch Carolina, and they are destined to face the Penguins in the first round of the playoffs after all.

Stay tuned.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

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.