Put Up Or Shut Up

Well, at least the Rangers broke the shut out streak! And by Rangers, I mean Artem Anisimov. That’s a small step in the right direction. As we all know, New York hosts bottom-feeder Carolina tonight. If the Rangers don’t win tonight then tell me why we shouldn’t throw in the white flag. Okay, maybe because they will have 28 games remaining still after that. But, we all know the Rangers don’t deserve much if they can’t beat the worst team in the conference when they desperately need a win.

If you look ahead, there are even more reasons why New York needs two points desperately tonight. After tonight, there are eight games remaining before the Olympic break. Of those eight games, seven are against better teams in terms of record (the last game against Tampa is the only team below New York in the standings as it stands this afternoon). What makes this even more difficult is that after tonight, the Rangers head on a three game road trip @Phoenix, @Colorado and @LA. In the last few years that might not sound so bad. However, all three of those teams are in the top six of the Western Conference. The Rangers have actually beaten LA and Phoenix at home already earlier in the season, but that was months ago and this will be in the midst of an extended road trip. So, New York, you want to prove you are a playoff team, now would be a good time to start winning again.

It really amazes me the Rangers are still in the seven seed in the standings right now despite three straight losses. Eric and I have talked about how tight it is in the standings from around the 6-13 seeds yet the Rangers haven’t won a game in more than a week and are still in position to make the playoffs. Crazy if you ask me. That just goes to show how poorly some of the other teams are playing (Boston most noticeably). That almost tells me if there was a time to have a mini-slump, the Rangers picked the most opportune time. On the flip side of that coin, had the Rangers not fallen into this slump we would be talking about them being closer to that five or six seed with some breathing room behind them.

At this point, what’s done is done. The simple fact of the matter is the Rangers need to go out and get a win tonight at home before they head on the Western Conference road trip. This team needs some confidence before that trip because clearly any that it had from the back-to-back wins over Montreal and Tampa is completely gone. Maybe scoring twice and playing a competitive game against the Penguins will help them, but once again we are merely talking about playing with the Penguins, not beating them.

A couple of side notes. I will be on the live blog tonight so be sure to join in on that. Also, I fly out to Vancouver bright and early tomorrow. If all goes according to plan and I get out there alright, Eric and I were going to try to get a podcast in tomorrow night so stay tuned for that. Remember to get your questions/comments in at hosts@nyrangerscast.com.

Let’s hope for a win tonight!