Range finders
Blueshirts face tests vs. old Patrick rivals
NEARLY one third of the way through and it does not feel as if the Rangers season has generated traction. Not the team, which is 11-3 since Halloween; but the season itself.
Maybe that is because the Blueshirts have played only 26 games in 61 days since the opening puck drop Oct. 5 in a schedule that has featured an unusual amount of leisure time.
And more to the point, maybe that is because the Rangers have played a sum of only three games — three, total — against the Islanders, Devils, Penguins, Capitals and Flyers in counterpoint to a steady drumbeat of generic matchups that inspire no one.
But that is about to change. This is a ye olde Patrick Division week for our heroes, who have two on the road, in Pittsburgh on Tuesday and in Washington on Friday before returning home to face the Devils on Saturday.
In the vernacular, much more should be known a week from now about this group that trails all three of these upcoming divisional opponents (and the Islanders and Blue Jackets, too, in the newfangled Metropolitan Division) and is thus on the outside looking in on the playoffs.
“I think we’re going to know a lot more not only about our team, but what we’re going to be up against the rest of the year in the playoff race,” Kevin Shattenkirk told The Post following Monday’s practice that preceded the flight to Pittsburgh. “But I think even more importantly, we need to find our game on the road and see who we are on the road playing in hostile environments against this kind of quality.”
The Rangers have gone 3-5 in their league-low eight road contests. They’ve yet to have longer than a two-game, three-day trip. They have played only one of their scheduled 15 games out of the Eastern time zone. Shattenkirk is correct. There are important things to be learned about the 14-10-2 Blueshirts.
“Let’s start with Pittsburgh,” Mats Zuccarello said. “We’ve had some big wins there, but we’ve also had some ugly games there, too.”
Big win: 5-2 Nov. 21, 2016 behind Antti Raanta. Ugly game: 7-2 defeat just under a month later, Dec. 20, in front of Raanta. Big win: 2-1 in Game 7 of the 2014 second round. Ugly game: 6-3 against in the elimination Game 5 of the 2016 first round.
“In my opinion, the Penguins are still the team to beat coming off their two Cup wins,” Shattenkirk said. “Washington may not have all the firepower they’ve had the last number of years, but I think they’re playing a little bit of a hungrier game. And the Devils are a very strong team we are going to have to worry about all year.”
The Penguins, who are carrying the additional weight of 49 playoff contests the last two springs, have won four straight in front of Tristan Jarry, the freshman netminder who appears to have taken over for the injured Matt Murray as seamlessly as Murray took over for the sincedeparted Marc-Andre Fleury a couple of years ago.
“You have to be on top of it. There’s no question about it,” said Henrik Lundqvist, who is scheduled to make his 15th straight start in what will be his longest run since he went in the final 26 games of 2010-11. “They’re a great team, even though they’ve been a little up and down.”
But in the King’s opinion, not necessarily the most defining challenge to meet. As Lundqvist sees it, that comes with maintaining excellence through the grind that might not feature high-anxiety contests such as the three laying immediately ahead.
“I think we will find out something about our team this week and it’s obviously very important because all three teams are ahead of us,” the goaltender said. “But I think you find out just as much, if not more, about the consistency the team has over the course of the season.”