Only 13 games remain in the Rangers' season, and the playoffs are far from a certainty. The team and its fans have spent the first two thirds of this lockout-shortened 48-game schedule waiting for "real" Rangers to show up, but maybe that version just isn't coming. Right now, the Rangers (37 points) sit at ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings, but they have two games in hand on the eighth-place Islanders and one on the seventh-place Devils, both of whom have 39 points.
Reasons for optimism: The Rangers have the talent. Rick Nash is as strong an on-the-puck player as there is in the NHL. Their defense, even without Marc Staal, is stingy if not deep. They may not match the Penguins—whom they play in a home-and-home the next two games—but they certainly have one of the eight best teams in the Eastern Conference. They just need to play like that down the stretch.
Monday's 4-2 win over Winnipeg was also encouraging. Ryan Callahan had four points (a short-handed goal and three assists) as the Rangers dug themselves out of an early 2-1 hole. They needed the win after back-to-back shutouts to Ottawa and Montreal, and they got it. Derek Stepan had two goals, and Nash had the other. When those two players are on, the Rangers are a different team.
Reasons for pessimism: The Rangers are last in the NHL (!) in goals scored. How impotent is their offense? They traded for Ryane Clowe, who has no goals scored this season, to help their offense.(Clowe also joins Darroll Powe as Rangers with unconventional spelling in their first names and last names that end in "we".)
Before Wednesday's trade deadline, the Rangers also agreed to trade the struggling Marian Gaborik to Columbus. The Slovak winger has been in a season-long shooting slump after playing through a shoulder injury in last season's playoffs. The good Marian Gaborik would have been missed, but the current one likely will not be.
Some players will call every game of the season a must-win, but that obviously isn't the case. The Penguins, who have won seven straight against the Rangers by a combined score of 28-8, will be without Sidney Crosby. He is without some of his teeth after taking a puck to the mouth Saturday. Pittsburgh had won 15 straight before losing to the lowly Sabres, 4-1, on Tuesday. The only good part about playing the Penguins twice in a row is that the teams won't meet again until the playoffs, when a first-round matchup is a definite possibility. If the Rangers make it, that is.
