A look at the Upcoming New York Rangers Schedule
After a convincing win Sunday afternoon in Washington and now having won 5 of their last 6 games, the NY Rangers look to keep the success going over the next couple of weeks. Within the next 2 weeks the New York Rangers schedule looks like this:
@ Buffalo Sabres
@ Winnipeg Jets
@ Pittsburgh Penguins
Vs. Carolina Hurricanes
@ New Jersey Devils
Vs. Florida Panthers
The Rangers will get the opportunity this week to play 2 of the best teams in the eastern conference being the Penguins and Devils, and also the 2 worst teams in the league being the Panthers and the Sabres. Although they are currently in 2nd to last place in the NHL, the Sabres seem to give the Rangers a good game, only losing to the Blueshirts in a shootout last meeting. Some bad blood was left on the ice between these clubs when Patrick Kaleta hit Brad Richards from behind into the boards, Richards would leave the game and return rather quickly, but then missed the next 2 games due to an injury received from that hit. Kaleta was given a 5 minute major penalty, thrown out of the game, and then suspended another 5. Unfortunately the Rangers won’t be able to retaliate against him in this meeting because he is still serving that suspension.
After the outing in Buffalo, the Rangers schedule then takes them up to Winnipeg, who beat the Rangers 4-3 in regulation last time these teams met. Definitely not a team to overlook, and with the firepower that they have a big game from Lundqvist is much needed. The Jets are only 2 points behind the Rangers who currently would have the 8th seed in the east if the season were to end today.
The NY Rangers schedule then takes them into Pittsburgh who are currently in 2nd place in the eastern conference and 4th in the entire league. The pens recently got back superstar Evgeni Malkin from injury, and there already dangerous lineup with Crosby, Neal, and Kunitz just got even scarier. The Rangers are 0-2 against this high powered Penguins team, and both games were lost by 3 goals. The Rangers have become a better team since the last meeting and are starting to look like the team everyone expected them to be this season, the game should be much closer this time around
Next up on the Rangers schedule is a home game against Carolina, who is currently in first place in the Southeast division. After 4 games on the road the Rangers will be coming back to what will most likely be a sold out MSG. Carolina probably won’t be as strong as normal due to the injury of star goaltender Cam Ward. Ward will be out 6-8 weeks with an MCL strain in his knee. This bodes well for the Rangers, because backup Dan Ellis hasn’t exactly been having a good season and has been pretty brutal as of late, only 1-2 in his last 3 outings. This is the Rangers and canes first meeting of the season and all signs point to it being a successful one for the blueshirts.
The Rangers don’t get to stay at home for long; they play in New Jersey the very next day against a Devils team that is having a strong year despite the loss of captain Zach Parise. This is only the 2nd meeting between these 2 teams who are only separated by 1 point and the Devils won the first one by 2. This is always one of the biggest games on the Ranger’s schedule especially this season, after the devils knocked the Rangers out of the playoffs in the eastern conference finals last year. Should be another classic matchup between these rivals.
Last game of this 2 week span has the Panthers come into the Garden. Despite being in last place in the league, Florida shows signs of being a good team every now and then, if you get them on a good night you can be in for a rude awakening. This is the first meeting between these two teams, and the Rangers should be able to get 2 points out of this one which would be the perfect ending to this difficult 2 week span.
Keep in mind that Marc Staal is currently injured and out indefinitely after getting hit in the face with a puck against the Flyers last week, losing a top 4 defenseman at this point in the season could be crucial, luckily the Rangers are pretty deep at the blue line, especially with the addition of veteran D-man Roman Hamrlik. Players like Del Zotto and McDonagh are going to really have to step up on the defensive side of the puck during his absence.
The upcoming 2 weeks on the Rangers schedule will be a huge teller of how this team will end up, after winning 5 of the last 6 games the blueshirts are finally looking like the team everyone thought they would be. Getting at least 10 points in these next 6 games could give the Rangers the confidence they need to move up the ranks in the eastern conference and it is a very plausible task.
For tickets to all these games look no further than Whiztix.com. Whiztix is a free to use ticket search engine which compiles results from all the best and reliable websites on the resale market in one place. The price they show includes the transaction costs for the marketplaces they search through, so what you see is what you’ll wind up paying. This is a pretty useful tool for finding the best deals, or the cheapest tickets on the web.
Bryan Bergstol is a student at Suny Buffalo and a writing intern for Whiztix.com. Whiztix.com is a free to use ticket search engine which compiles results from all the best and reliable websites on the resale market in one place. The price they show includes the transaction costs for the marketplaces they search through, so what you see is what you’ll wind up paying. This is a pretty useful tool for finding the best deals, or the cheapest tickets on the web.
