Rangers Playoff Hopes Hinge on Upcoming Road Trip

The New York Rangers' playoff hopes hinge on their upcoming Western Conference road trip.

Mar 22, 2025; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers center Matt Rempe (73) and center J.T. Miller (8) celebrate after a 5-3 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images / Danny Wild-Imagn Images

The New York Rangers trail the Montreal Canadiens by a single point for the final Wild Card position in the Eastern Conference. The regular season is reaching its final weeks, and there are still five teams vying for the same spot. Only one will clinch a playoff berth, and the Rangers are hoping they can do enough to secure it.

To do so, the Rangers must play their best hockey on their upcoming road trip. The team faces off against three Western Conference squads, the Los Angeles Kings, the Anaheim Ducks, and the San Jose Sharks. The road trip includes those three games over just a five day span. It will be quite the challenge, but their playoff lives hinge on coming out of this trip with at least two victories.

The first one will be hard to get, going against the Kings. Los Angeles is playing excellent hockey of late, leapfrogging the Edmonton Oilers in the Pacific Division standings. They are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and are a bit of a matchup problem for the Rangers. Luckily, the Ducks and Sharks are sitting comfortably near and at at the bottom of the division standings and should be much easier matchups for New York.

The one thing going in the Rangers favor is the strength of schedule over the next few games. While the Blue Shirts will face two teams outside of the playoff hunt during their road trip, the Canadiens and Islanders don't have such luck. The Habs will play three playoff teams in their next four games, while the Islanders get three straight postseason-bound teams.

That could open up a path for the Rangers to jump back into a Wild Card spot, but they must take care of business on their end. If they fail to on this upcoming trip, their playoff hopes will decrease drastically without much time to make it up.

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