Game Preview #77: New Jersey Devils vs. New York Rangers

Following their home-and-home sweep of the Minnesota Wild, the Devils close out the season series against their bitter rivals, the New York Rangers

The Matchup: New Jersey Devils (40-29-7) vs. New York Rangers (36-32-7)

The Time: 12:30pm ET

The Broadcast: ABC, ESPN+, Devils Radio Network

Last Devils Game

New Jersey has been off for a while, having played their last game back on Monday. Despite a few disallowed goals and a late game-tying score allowed, the Devils squeaked out a 3-2 shootout win over the Minnesota Wild in the second half of a home-and-home at The Rock. Luke Hughes and Nico Hischier scored during game action, and Paul Cotter and Jesper Bratt scored in the shootout to secure the win.

Last Rangers Game

The Rangers also played their last game against the Wild as Minnesota makes their way through the tristate area. The game happened on Wednesday, and New York handed the Wild yet another post-regulation loss: a 5-4 overtime win over Minnesota. Vincent Trocheck notched the overtime winner to deliver a massive two points to the Rangers.

Last Devils-Rangers Game

We have to go back almost three months to January 9th. In the middle of what turned out to be a horrible January, the Devils lost a 3-2 game in overtime at Madison Square Garden. Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt scored for the Devils, while Sam Carrick registered the game-winner in overtime.

The Magic Number

On Thursday, Gerard took a look at what the Devils need to do from this point forward to qualify for the postseason. He determined that New Jersey’s magic number to clinch was nine points, which could come in the form of points gained by the Devils OR points lost by the other Metropolitan Division teams chasing them. Let’s take a look at some updated numbers in this regard.

A quick disclaimer though: Math is not exactly my forte. So if I crunched the numbers wrong here, please let me know in the comments!

Since Gerard wrote that article, there have been two games that have impacted the playoff chase in the Metro: The Columbus Blue Jackets lost in regulation to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night, and the New York Islanders won in regulation against the Minnesota Wild on Friday night.

So here’s how things shake out as we enter Saturday:

New Jersey Devils: 87 points in 76 games (maximum number of points attainable: 99)

New York Rangers: 79 points in 75 games (maximum number of points attainable: 93)

Columbus Blue Jackets: 77 points in 74 games (maximum number of points attainable: 93)

New York Islanders: 76 points in 75 games (maximum number of points attainable: 90)

The first tiebreaker for playoff positioning is regulation wins. Neither the Blue Jackets nor the Islanders can catch the Devils in this category, therefore New Jersey can end the regular season tied in points with either of those teams and they would finish ahead of them in the standings. The Rangers, however, can catch the Devils in regulation wins. So as of today, New Jersey still needs to finish at least one point ahead of the Rangers to clinch a postseason berth over them.

So with all that said, I believe (again, not a math guy) the Devils’ updated magic number to clinch a spot in the postseason is seven, which would put them at 94 to end the regular season.

Needless to say, a win of any kind over the Rangers today would be huge. If the Devils come out on top this afternoon, regardless of whether it’s a regulation win or not, New Jersey would cut their magic number nearly in half, all the way down to four (since the new point total magic number would be 93, and the Devils would be up to 89 points themselves).

At the end of the day, the simplest way into the postseason is to keep on winning. That way even if New Jersey never gets any more help on the out of town scoreboard the rest of the way, they’d still win their way into the dance.

Out Of Town Scoreboard

Speaking of the out of town scoreboard, let’s take a look at that, shall we?

The only truly relevant game elsewhere is in Toronto this evening. The Blue Jackets skate against the Maple Leafs at 7pm. Go Leafs, go.

The Islanders are off today, so nothing to report on that front.

And if you want to include the Atlantic Division wild card teams, the Ottawa Senators host the Florida Panthers at 2pm, and the Montreal Canadiens are home against the Philadelphia Flyers at 7pm.

Glass Half Full?

Cody Glass hasn’t played since March 24th against the Vancouver Canucks. In his absence, the Devils have won three out of four games, but make no mistake, New Jersey would LOVE to have Glass back in the lineup.

Well they might be getting him back today, as Glass returned to practice on Friday:

And here is how the Devils looked altogether with Glass returning:

The Devils played well in their home-and-home against the Wild. If Glass can return and continue playing at the level he was at before he sat out the last four games, that would be yet another boost for this team.

The Other Return

Cody Glass was not the only player making a triumphant return to New Jersey yesterday. Defenseman Seamus Casey was recalled from Utica on Wednesday:

Based on those practice pairings above, it appears as though Casey will draw in today and Simon Nemec will draw out. Casey hasn’t played at the NHL level since February 26th at Colorado. We’ll see what he can bring to the table this afternoon.

A Desperate Team

The New York Rangers’ season is on life support. As we’ve discussed already, their chances in the Metropolitan Division playoff race are very slim. So their best bet is to squeak in through the Wild Card race instead. They probably have no hope of catching the Ottawa Senators (86 points in 75 games), so their last ray of light is chasing down the Montreal Canadiens in the second Wild Card spot. Montreal and New York have both played 75 games, but the Habs have 81 points to the Rangers’ 79. That’s still well within reach for New York obviously, but they can’t afford to drop many more points down the stretch at all.

The Rangers haven’t exactly helped themselves in recent times either. Yes they’ve won their last two games, but right before that they endured a stretch of five losses in six games. And just before that stretch, there was a four-game losing streak from March 5th-11th. The only thing that has saved the Rangers is the ineptitude of the rest of the Eastern Conference Wild Card chase.

And to make matters worse, the Rangers have a pretty tough schedule the rest of the way. They have to battle New Jersey today, and their remaining games after this afternoon include one against the Hurricanes, one against the Panthers, and two against the Lightning. Granted, those teams might not have much to play for by the time those contests roll around, but those are still very tough games on paper.

A season after winning the President’s Trophy and coming within two wins of a Stanley Cup Final appearance, New York has suffered through a slog of a season. The Devils better be prepared for a desperate, feisty team fighting for their playoff lives.

When It Rains, It Pours

As if New York’s flickering playoff hopes weren’t enough, they might also be without one of their top players today as well:

Mika Zibanejad has not had a good season by his standards. In 75 games, he only has 16 goals and 51 points, well below what is expected out of him. According to Natural Stat Trick, he hasn’t been able to drive play in a positive way either, with 5-on-5 numbers all in the 47%-49% range.

But all that being said, Zibanejad is still a quality player. If I had to guess, I would say he battles through whatever is ailing him and plays today. But even if he does, how effective he will be remains to be seen.

Your Take

What do you make of today’s game? Who on the Devils do you expect to have a big game? Who on the Rangers are you most concerned with? As always, thanks for reading!