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Rangers split games this past weekend, playoff race, Perreault signs ELC |
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The Rangers had what could be generously described as a mixed bag weekend. Going into a pair of games that on page, New York should have won, the Blueshirts spit the bit on Friday, blowing a pair of two goals leads, including one with less than six minutes to go in the game, falling 5-4 in overtime to the Ducks. Saturday, New York was better not perfect, defeating the Sharks 6-1, though after seeing what LA did to San Jose yesterday, maybe it should have been worse.
New York’s win Saturday pushed them into the second Wild Card spot, though Montreal had two games in hand. The Panthers did the Rangers few favors Sunday, falling 4-2 to the Habs, which moved the blue-blank-et-rouge back into the second wild card spot. Montreal has a game in hand and faces Florida again Tuesday. A win or tie and they maintain their spot. A loss, and the Blueshirts slide back into that spot due to New York having 34 regulation and overtime wins while Montreal has 32, which is the first tie breaker.
Montreal is not the only team in the mix. Columbus is 33-30-9, two points New York with a pair of games in hand. They too trail the Rangers in ROW with just 27. Detroit is at 74 points, with 31 ROW after their win Saturday, with a game in hand, while the Islanders have lost three in a row and sit three points shy of the Blueshirts with a game in a hand. Needless to say scoreboard watching is the second part of this pastime the next few weeks.
Blowing Friday’s game continued the usual pattern of subpar defense play for New York. Up two goals with less than six minutes to go in the game, your primary and likely only focus should be goal prevention. Augmenting the lead would be great, but not at the expense of defensive coverage. In no way, shape or form, should you surrender an odd man rush. In addition, even if on the power play, getting pinned deep is about the most egregious mistake, along with not covering the slot or getting to the front of your net, yet, all were on display Friday. I would love to blame the coaches, and I do, but the players have to be smarter and know the game situation. That is an area for which you should not have to reminded. Yet as we saw, that was the case.
Coming into Saturday’s game against San Jose, on paper, it should have been an easy win. Even though New York scored six goals, until late in the third, none of us felt the victory was salted away. A late game inability to clear the puck, as K’Andre Miller just reached for the puck with his stick and was unable to fully play it, resulted in the Sharks’s goal, costing Jonathan Quick the shutout. In fact, Quick had to stone at least 3-4 prime scoring chances during the contest, or the score would have been much closer.
New York does not have an easy remaining schedule: Minnesota on Wednesday, at NJ on Saturday and then home for Tampa next Monday. A back-to-back versus Philly - under new coach Brad Shaw - at home April 9 followed by the Islanders on the road the next night. Road contests against Carolina on April 12 and Florida on April 14 lead into the last game of the season at home April 17 versus Tampa. On the eight games left, six are versus playoff teams, one is against a cross-tunnel rival and the last is a match up versus a squad playing freely under their new coach.
With two more days off until Wednesday’s game, much of the focus will be if Gabe Perreault signs his ELC with Boston College eliminated from the NCAA tournament 3-1 by the University of Denver last night. Expectation is thar Washington will ink Perreault’s linemate and friend, Ryan Leonard, to his ELC, providing that team another boost heading into the playoffs. With Perreault, who has racked up 107 points (34 goals and 73 assists) across 71 games in two seasons as an Eagle, it may not be that cut and dry.
Three options exist here for New York and Perreault, who is known for his vision and hockey sense. First, the Rangers could burn the first season of the three-year entry-level contract and make him a lineup option for coach Peter Laviolette. If he is signed and deployed, playing him in a bottom six role would be a waste of his talent. Granted, the jump from BC to NY is huge, but if wasting a year of his ELC, which might also convince Perreault to sign, utilizing him in a role that doesn’t maximize his talents would be foolish for both parties.
Second, Perreault could sign his entry-level contract and then sign an amateur tryout (ATO) with Hartford of the American Hockey League, like fellow Rangers prospects Noah Laba and Jackson Dorrington did recently. Doing so would preserve the entire length of the ELC, meaning that Perreault could make the team next year and that be year 1 of the ELC. This would allow him to get acclimated to the speed and size of the pro game without forcing the pace. Perreault, who does need to get stronger despite already adding some weight and muscle and also quicker on his skates, could also sign and shut it down for the rest of the season, though that seems even less likely.
The third option is that Perreault decides to stay at Boston College for another year. James Hagens, the other linemate. 7: expected to go high in this year’s draft and likely sign. Add that component into the expectation of Leonard signing with the Caps and it seems even less likely that Perreault stays. The prior member of that trio, Will Smith, is playing for the Sharks following his signing after last season. Just get a deal done and have Perreault part of the red, white and blue.
My guess is that Drew Fortescue stays in school. Offense is not game, as Fortescue was matched up against the opposition’s top line defensively. One underrated aspect of his play has been his breakout passes and zone exits, two crying needs on the NY blueline. Fortescue needs to get a little stronger as projects as a third pair d-man.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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