The Rangers' performance in their last five games is a bright spot for a very disappointing team that has been in danger of missing the playoffs this year after making it to the Eastern Conference Finals last season.
After losing four straight just before the New Year, they now have three wins, one loss, and one draw, moving them within five points of Columbus, who is in eighth place in the East Division.
Still, they have to jump five teams to get into the playoffs, a difficult task for a team that has been stuck in a rut for much of the season and hasn't won back-to-back games since winning three straight in mid-November.
However, recent signs indicate that all is not lost.
“I think there was a time when we were playing bad hockey and we didn't deserve to win the game,” Riley Smith said Thursday after a hard-fought overtime win over the Devils at Madison Square Garden. “I think we’ve done enough since Christmas to give us a chance to win every night. [Thursday] was a good example. It was probably one of our better games since the beginning of the year…As a group of five, we defended as well as we have. ”
The Rangers will look to carry that momentum into the road as they open their third straight Western road trip in Las Vegas on Saturday.
The Rangers will play the top-ranked Golden Knights, then visit Colorado and Utah before returning home to face Columbus.
“We've got to build on it,” said Smith, who assisted Sam Carrick's winning goal on Thursday night.
To do that, they'll need to maintain the defensive intensity they saw Thursday when they limited the Devils to 23 shots. This is the fewest shots allowed in a month and should take some of the pressure off Igor Shesterkin, who was playing his first game. After missing four consecutive games due to an upper body injury.
They also showed some grit after being embarrassed by the Devils in the last two meetings between the teams, where the Devils outscored the Rangers 10-1.
And they finished the game strong, dominating in the third period and winning in overtime for the first time this season after barely putting up a fight for much of the last month.
And it will help if they continue the special teams play they showed against New Jersey. That's because they scored multiple power-play goals for the second time this season, converting all four of their penalties after allowing four goals on the power play in their previous three games. game.
“We talked before the game about how special teams can make 100 percent of the difference in a hockey game,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “The power play plays its role, the penalty kill plays its role, and if you're successful at both, you have a much better chance of winning the game.”
Thursday's power-play goal, which coach Artemi Panarin said helped the Rangers change their look with the man advantage in the win, helped the team score a league-high 19 goals this month heading into Friday's game. .
