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New York Rangers Entering Vital Homestand

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The New York Rangers open a pivotal four-game homestand tonight against the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs come into Madison Square Garden hot and looking for revenge, after being routed 5-0 in their previous trip to the Big Apple. The Rangers must take one game at a time as they fight for playoff position, but the upcoming homestand is extremely important as a whole.

Although four games wouldn’t be considered an extended homestand, it’s tied for the longest one the Rangers have left this season. New York has a good home record to this point at 14-6-3, but they can’t afford to slip with four straight home games against Eastern Conference opponents.

Three of those four opponents are fighting to make the playoffs, while the fourth one is playing their best hockey of the season. That team would be the Carolina Hurricanes, a team that fell out of the playoff hunt a long time ago, but has won seven of their last 10 games. It will certainly be a challenge for the Rangers, but New York needs to find a way to post a winning record in these four home games.

Not only is it going to be the longest homestand the Rangers have left, but they also have separate four and five-game road trips that lie ahead before season’s end. That’s nothing to get discouraged about, but the Rangers haven’t been the same team on the road this season that they were a year ago.

The Rangers opened last season with nine straight on the road and only managed to capture three wins. They turned it around and ended up with the best road record in the NHL, but this year’s been a different story. New York’s 13-8-1 road record this year is better than most, but the Rangers need to take care of business on home ice if they hope to host a playoff series.

There’s so much hockey left to play that it’s far from a sure thing that New York makes the playoffs, but the Rangers could distance themselves from a few teams that are pushing to swipe a Wild Card spot. One of those teams is the Florida Panthers, who currently sit ninth in the conference. The Rangers face Florida in the third game of the homestand and could lose a lot of breathing room if they don’t have success over the next week.

Despite the Rangers being one of the best teams in hockey over the last few months, breathing room is something that they don’t have. New York currently holds the first Wild Card spot, just one point ahead of the Boston Bruins. Coincidentally enough, Boston is the fourth team they face during the homestand.

The Bruins started the season slow, but have found their groove. Boston will be as dangerous as any team if they make the playoffs, and a poor week at home for the Rangers could have them in the eighth and final spot with multiple teams on their heels.

While New York’s opponents over the next four games are all huge matchups, it’s more about the Rangers worrying about getting themselves back into a groove. Following the All-Star break, the Rangers lost their first game to the New York Islanders, a team the Rangers can’t seem to figure out.

The Rangers weren’t exactly dominated by the Isles, but they had tremendous trouble finishing. The Rangers need to improve on making the most of their opportunities on offense. They got 41 shots on goal against the Islanders, but couldn’t finish chances. Their lone goal was a meaningless one that came with 10 seconds left in the game after trailing 4-0.

As for defense, New York must play better in front of their goaltender. The best way to beat Henrik Lundqvist is to get bodies in front and jump on rebounds. The Rangers need to do a better job of getting to loose pucks in front before the opposition does.

The homestand might not define the Rangers’ season, but a successful week will allow them to keep their distance from the group of teams fighting to break into the top eight in the conference. It all starts with a very tough game in an Eastern Conference Finals rematch tonight with Montreal.

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