As the regular season begins to wind down, the New York Rangers are currently leading the Metropolitan Division by one point over the Carolina Hurricanes. They are also in first place in the Eastern Conference and are tied with the Vancouver Canucks for the NHL lead. By any and all accounts this has been the best Rangers team to take the ice since that Presidents' Trophy winner of 2014-15.
But while this team continues to amaze even its staunchest critics, there are a growing number of fans who would prefer that they finish in second behind the Hurricanes, and you'll never guess what their reason is.
You see it has to do with which team the Rangers would face in the playoffs. If the Rangers finish first in the Metro, but second overall in the East, their opponent would be the Tampa Bay Lightning. However, if they were to finish in second, they would face either the Philadelphia Flyers or the surging Washington Capitals. The prevailing sentiment among this group is that if you're the Rangers, you'd much rather play the Flyers or the Caps than the Lightning.
There are three flaws in this thinking. I'll list them in order.
One: The Lightning aren't nearly as good as some are making them out to be. Yes, they've been hot of late, but since their last Cup in '21, they have turned over half their roster. The Rangers won the first two games of the season series 5-1 and 3-1, and were 28 minutes away from a series sweep. So thorough was their domination that halfway through the second period of game three, the Bolts had managed a paltry eight shots on goal. If that's your idea of a tough matchup, I shudder to think what an easy one would look like.
Two: Anyone who's seen this Rangers team play over the last few seasons knows all too well that they have a nasty habit of playing to the level of their opponent. For instance, some of the best games they've played this season have come against teams like the Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars and Hurricanes. However, they've also had some of their worst games against teams like the San Jose Sharks and Columbus Blue Jackets. Now I'm not suggesting that the Flyers are as bad as the Sharks or the Jackets; far from it. But the idea that somehow the Blueshirts are just going to breeze by Philly is absurd. This is a John Tortorella-coached team. They will be a tough out, no matter who they play.
Three: Apparently, these fans must've been in a coma over the last twelve months, because this was the same stupidity we heard out of most of the players last season. It doesn't matter where we finish in the standings, they said, we can flip the switch come playoff time. How'd that work out? Oh, yeah, not so well. After going up 2-0 over the New Jersey Devils, the Rangers dropped four of the last five games and were unceremoniously bounced from the postseason. Arguably the most talented roster in decades never made it out of the first round. The fact is there is no switch. You're either ready for the playoffs or you're not. This is the message Peter Laviolette has tried to instill on his players from the start of training camp, and from what we've seen so far this season, that message has gotten through.
Look, are there inherent risks in going all out to finish in first place? Of course there are. But this is hockey, not baseball. You can get injured just as easily in second gear as you can in fifth. For me, the greater risk is taking your foot off the gas pedal because, as we've seen, there's no guarantee you can get the engine back up to speed.
Besides, if the Rangers finish first overall, their first-round opponent would be the last Wild Card team. That would be either the Detroit Red Wings or the aforementioned Flyers or Caps. They would also have home ice advantage throughout the playoffs. What's better than that?
Yes, there's the matter of the Presidents' Trophy curse. Turns out it's a real thing. In the salary cap era, only two winners of the trophy have gone on to win the Stanley Cup: the '08 Red Wings and the '13 Chicago Blackhawks. That's two out of a possible eighteen. Not a very good showing. And it gets even worse when you consider that the '23 Bruins and the '19 Lightning - both of whom had the best won-loss records since those legendary Montreal Canadiens teams of the 1970s - were eliminated in the first round.
But fear of a curse is no excuse for slacking off. This team is clicking on all cylinders. It would be the height of irresponsibility to throttle back now.
As the motto says, No Quit in New York!
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