A win like Saturday night’s in Columbus should’ve sent the Rangers into the 4 Nations break on a high note, but this season has been anything but exuberant.
Even after earning a 4-3 win over the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena, the Blueshirts still lost four of their last seven games and, as a result, certainly will have their work cut out for them in a 27-game sprint to the regular-season finish line when they return from the near two-week pause.
That was not lost on any Ranger in the visiting locker room.
The break is to be enjoyed, but the impending grind will make it impossible to feel comfortable.
“We’ve definitely put ourselves in a bit of a spot earlier in the year,” Braden Schneider said Saturday night. “I think these last couple weeks, we’ve done a good job of getting wins, and we just got to make sure that we’re keeping our nose to the grindstone and getting those two points because every point at this point matters. We need everything that we can get.”
The victory over Columbus was imperative for a multitude of reasons.
Not only was it a chance for the Rangers to finish strong, but it also had serious implications in the Eastern Conference wild-card standings.
All four teams ahead of the Rangers in the wild-card race happened to lose Saturday, with the Islanders falling to Minnesota, the Bruins losing to Vegas, the Red Wings to Tampa Bay and the Senators, currently in the No. 1 spot wild-card spot, getting pummeled by Florida.
There now are just two points separating the Rangers and the Blue Jackets, who are one point out of the second spot.
“We’ve shown we can play at that level where we can beat anyone, I think,” Will Cuylle said after his two-point third-period effort Saturday night. “It’s just, especially in the third periods we’re showing so much desperation. I think we can still do a better job of playing a full 60 minutes so we don’t put ourselves in those positions in the third. I think it’s trending in the right direction and trending upwards.”
Too many times this season, the Rangers have been burned by their inability to remain engaged for an entire contest.
Whether it’s giving up goals within the first or last minute of a period or allowing a flurry of scores in a short span, which occurred again in the first period Saturday night, it’s a trend that has plagued the Rangers for most of this season so far.
The Rangers have found ways to make it harder on themselves more often than not, whereas last season they rather consistently put in the work to set themselves up for success.
What comes next will be the hardest situation the Rangers have had to attack yet.
There’s a real possibility the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners don’t make the playoffs.
That’s something to think about for two weeks.
“I think there’s a lot of things that we’ve done better,” said Mika Zibanejad, who heads to Montreal to represent Sweden as one of six Blueshirts competing in the international tournament. “I feel like defensively, we’ve been better. We haven’t been perfect throughout this month and a half or whatever it’s been since Jan. 1, but I think it’s been a lot better. I think there’s been a commitment to playing winning hockey, and I feel like it’s coming along.
“This was a good way to end this here before the break and hopefully can come back mentally recharged and ready for the last push.”
