BURSTWhen you look at the sorry state of the New York Rangers and Western New York’s forever-bumbling Buffalo Sabres, you can’t help but wonder which buttons and levers are left to push and pull?
Winning in the NHL is hard and what the Blueshirts and Sabres are proving is, that’s true regardless of what phase your team is in. The Rangers entered this campaign viewed as a Cup contender trying to get over the top. Down the standings, Buffalo — once again — looked like a team with a chance to at least make the post-season for the first time in forever.
Instead, here we sit with the Rangers going 3-10-0 in their past 13 outings following Sunday’s 3-2 loss in St. Louis. The Sabres, meanwhile, failed for the 10th attempt in a row to get a W on Sunday, losing 5-3 to Toronto team it led 2-0 2:46 into the contest.
So where do we go from here?
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette may have been fired by the time you read this. The Blueshirts already muscled out former captain Jacob Trouba and they have until the holiday roster freeze on Friday to try and trade anyone else they can.
As for the Sabres, they already pulled a coaching switch-a-roo in the summer, turning to old friend Lindy Ruff to right the ship. It hasn’t worked and you can’t help but wonder how many more bleak state-of-the-union addresses that blame a lack of palm trees for his problems general manager Kevyn Adams can give before his time is up.
At this point, it’s basically a lock the Sabres will miss the playoffs for the 14th consecutive campaign, including the COVID-shortened one where 20 freakin’ teams made the dance in 2020. The Tampa Bay Lightning have played 150 playoff contests — nearly two full regular seasons’ worth of action — since Buffalo last skated in a post-season affair in 2011.
The Rangers have actually played the second-most playoff games in that time, but whether or not they add to that total this spring is suddenly in serious doubt. A month ago, New York’s problems seemed of the champagne sort; good record, but some things to clean up playing in a Metropolitan Division made tougher by the unexpected rise of the Washington Capitals.
Today, the Rangers are officially outside the Eastern Conference playoff picture and have a worse points percentage than the Ottawa Senators, a club that — just a week ago — seemed to be spiralling out of control itself while flinging tampering accusations in the Rangers’ direction with regard to Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk.
At this point, it’s fair to wonder why anybody — Tkachuk or otherwise — would want to get into business with the Rangers. One more bad week and the Blueshirts could easily be passed by the Penguins — who have the fourth-worst goal-differential in the entire league — and the Islanders, another disappointing New York team whose only saving grace is, right now, they’re not as bad as the other two squads in their state.
It’s not good, friends. And whether you’re talking about the Rangers or Sabres, it’s hard to know what kind of move could end the misery.
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Weekend Takeaways
• The Oilers catching fire means things are really heating up atop the Pacific. Edmonton dumped divisional rival Vegas on Saturday, but the Knights turned around and got a nice 3-2 road victory in Minnesota 24 hours later. The Kings, meanwhile, helped ruin another Rangers weekend with a 5-1 win in Madison Square Garden on Saturday for their seventh win in eight outings. Since mid-November, Pacific teams have three of the best five points percentages in the league with Edmonton at No. 2 (.750), Vegas right behind in 3rd (.719) and the Kings sitting 5th (.692) in that month-long span.
• Speaking of the Wild, they’ve hit what seems like their first real rough patch of the season. Following the loss to Vegas, Minny is 2-3-0 in its past five and has allowed three or more goals in four of those outings. The sky is by no means falling — and Kirill Kaprizov continues to rake with four goals in his past two games — but this is what passes for a tough stretch in what has otherwise been a stellar year for the Wild.
The Week Ahead
• Buckle up; it’s a Stanley Cup Final rematch in Edmonton on Monday as the Panthers visit Rogers Place for the first time since losing the Game 6 that ultimately set up a Game 7 victory on home ice for the Cats.
• With three wins in a row, the Sens have a little wind in their sails as they set out for a monster 10-game roadie that kicks off Tuesday in Seattle. Ottawa, of course, will be home to the 2025 World Junior Championship, so the local NHL team had to pack its bags and clear out.
• Mackenzie Blackwood got his first win in his first start with the Avalanche on Saturday and he had to work for it, turning aside 37 pucks in a 5-2 victory over Nashville. What a development it would be if Blackwood — who visits his former club in San Jose on Thursday — can provide Colorado with quality puck-stopping.
• The holiday roster freeze will take hold Friday morning and run through Dec. 27. Will we see any moves this week as teams try to beat the buzzer and change the complexion of their squad before the forced hiatus? There’s certainly no shortage of motivated movers out there and we’ve already seen some decent early-season action with the likes of Trouba, Blackwood and defenceman Cam Fowler being dealt recently.
• Friday night features a mammoth Metro tilt, with the increasingly unreal Capitals — winners of four straight and owners of the best points percentage in the entire NHL (.759) — hosting the Hurricanes.
• Chandler Stephenson, who inked a huge off-season UFA contract with the Kraken, returns to Vegas on Saturday. What a pickup he was for the Knights, who grabbed Stephenson from the Caps for a fifth-round pick in December of 2019 and watched him blossom into an incredibly valuable, two-way, top-six forward. It took a while for Stephenson to get going in his new surroundings, but he’s put up eight points in his past eight games with Seattle.
Red and White Power Rankings
1. Edmonton Oilers (18-10-2) Leon Draisaitl has hit the back of the net in three straight games, including Saturday’s 6-3 win over Vegas, and has 13 points during the Oilers’ current five-game winning streak.
2. Winnipeg Jets (22-9-1) The Jets power play continues to be deadly on home ice, with two more man-advantage markers in Saturday’s 4-2 win over the Habs. Winnipeg is clicking to the tune of a league-best 34.6 per cent on the PP at Canada Life Centre.
3. Toronto Maple Leafs (19-10-2) What a season for John Tavares, who’s up to 15 goals after his hat trick in Sunday’s win over the Sabres. It’s going to be fascinating to see who gives him his next contract and what the terms are.
4. Vancouver Canucks (15-9-5) Thatcher Demko has suited up for two games since returning from injury and is still in search of his first win after Vancouver was completely outplayed by Boston on Saturday during a 5-1 Bruins victory. It’s going to take the big goalie some time to get up to speed after such a long absence, but his teammates could sure do more to support him.
5. Calgary Flames (15-11-5) Calgary is at the beginning of a stretch where it plays eight of 10 at home between now and early 2025. The Flames need to bank these points to have any hope of staying in the wild card race and Saturday’s 3-0 shutout of the defending-champion Panthers was a nice start.
6. Ottawa Senators (15-13-2) Drake Batherson has been an offensive force for the Sens this year. After hitting the mark in Saturday’s victory over Pittsburgh, the 26-year-old is on pace for 90 points this season.
7. Montreal Canadiens (11-16-3) Lane Hutson finally broke through for his first NHL goal on Saturday in Winnipeg. Hutson is averaging 22:48 per game; the only blue-liners to see more nightly ice time as rookies in the past 10 years are Brock Faber (24:58), Owen Power (23:48), Miro Heiskanen (23:07) and Moritz Seider (23:02).
