• Slap Shots: NHL going crazy inside bubble

    Slap Shots: NHL going crazy inside bubble

    Let me be the first to observe that there has never been a week like this in NHL history. The teams that finished 22nd, 23rd and 24th in the overall standings are in the Stanley Cup playoffs ,and a team that finished in the top 10 is alive in the lottery for the first-overall draft …
  • Rangers playoff fallout includes Jacob Trouba-induced dilemma

    Rangers playoff fallout includes Jacob Trouba-induced dilemma

    Regarding the Rangers, who under the NHL’s best-case scenario will reconvene for training camp on Nov. 17. 1. That date is closer to the end of the qualifying round than the beginning of the qualifying round was to the date the season ended. Maybe that is a primary reason the Rangers “did not pick up …
  • Rangers will quickly find out their NHL Draft fate

    Rangers will quickly find out their NHL Draft fate

    The day before they could have been starting the next round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Rangers will find out if they received a huge silver lining instead. The second phase of the NHL Draft Lottery is now set for 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 10, with the No. 1 pick still up for …
  • Igor Shesterkin mystery solved as Rangers face busy offseason

    Igor Shesterkin mystery solved as Rangers face busy offseason

    The offseason began Wednesday, when the Rangers left the bubble in Toronto for disparate precincts across the globe. It is on to 2020-21 for the players who amassed just a little more than three weeks ago for camp and the trek into the bubble. It is on to the offseason for management that not only …
  • Rangers split is the only easy part of Henrik Lundqvist’s next step

    Rangers split is the only easy part of Henrik Lundqvist’s next step

    This has been a long goodbye. A melancholy one, too. But now is the time. In your heart, you know it’s right. Henrik Lundqvist might, also. He has been The King of New York since the autumn of 2005 but, as David Crosby once crooned, “To everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, …
  • Rangers’ quick elimination may be the best of all worlds

    Rangers’ quick elimination may be the best of all worlds

    This might have represented the best of all worlds in the three-dimensional universe in which the Rangers live. For: 1) Being summarily swept out of the qualifying round, 1-2-3, lickety-split by the Candy Canes of Carolina does not erase the significant strides the 2019-20 Rangers took in transforming from lottery-fodder to playoff relevance. But: 2) …
  • Rangers swept by Hurricanes as season ends in a whimper

    Rangers swept by Hurricanes as season ends in a whimper

    Not even Igor Shesterkin could save the Rangers season. Finally cleared to make his postseason debut in time for Tuesday’s Game 3, the rookie goalie was strong in net, but it still wasn’t enough as the Rangers fell to the Hurricanes, 4-1, and got swept out of the Stanley Cup qualifiers at Scotiabank Arena. Former …
  • Rangers in terrible spot as Henrik Lundqvist era may be over

    Rangers in terrible spot as Henrik Lundqvist era may be over

    This was Game Too. Because though the Rangers were a tad better through stretches than they were in Saturday’s 3-2 Game 1 defeat to Carolina, they weren’t even close to good enough in Monday’s 4-1 loss that placed the Blueshirts on the brink of rapid elimination. At least Game 3 will be at the Garden, …
  • Rangers season on the brink after feeble loss to Hurricanes

    Rangers season on the brink after feeble loss to Hurricanes

    The Rangers’ bubble life is suddenly in danger of popping. A pair of goals in 71 seconds early in the second period sank the Rangers on Monday as they fell to the Hurricanes, 4-1, in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup qualifiers at Scotiabank Arena. They now trail 2-0 in the best-of-five series and will …
  • Igor Shesterkin’s unclear status creates Rangers dilemma for Game 2

    Igor Shesterkin’s unclear status creates Rangers dilemma for Game 2

    Igor Shesterkin was healthy enough to practice Sunday, but David Quinn said following the team’s workout that he had not yet anointed a starting goaltender for Monday afternoon’s Game 2 against Carolina. “I haven’t really decided,” the coach said. “[I’m] not sure yet whether Igor will be available.” The question is this: Is an impaired …