Struggling Stars host slumping Rangers
The New York Rangers and Dallas Stars share the similarity of coming off a difficult week. They differ when it comes to their positions in the standings.
Both teams will be looking to reverse some recent trends Tuesday night when the Rangers visit the Stars.
The Rangers (36-28-4, 76 points) enter the opener of a three-game trip three points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. They inched closer to the wild-card spot by going 11-3-0 from Jan. 31 to Feb. 27, a run that lifted them from being 11 points out to two points out.
Starting with a 5-2 loss at Philadelphia on Feb. 28, the Rangers are 1-4-0 in their past five contests while getting outscored 24-16. They completed a disappointing 1-3-0 homestand by dropping a 6-4 decision to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.
"We made it really easy for them," Zibanejad said. "If we want to play in the playoffs, we can't do this. Just a bad performance."
Tuesday starts a season-ending stretch where the Rangers play nine of 14 games away from home.
Mika Zibanejad, who tied a team record with five goals Thursday in New York's 6-5 overtime win against Washington, scored his career-high 39th goal Saturday. He has 17 goals in his past 14 games.
Zibanejad also has a goal in 10 of his last 11 games. According to NHL Stats and Information, Zibanejad is the third Ranger (also Andy Bathgate in 1962-63 and Jean Ratelle in 1971-72) in team history to score a goal in 10 games over an 11-game span.
The Rangers enter Tuesday with 18 road victories, tied with Carolina and Toronto for the third most in the Eastern Conference. They also are 9-1-0 in their last 10 road contests and had a team-record nine-game road winning streak stopped Feb. 28.
Dallas (37-23-8, 82 points) in on a season-high five-game skid (0-3-2) and enters Tuesday on a scoreless drought of 173 minutes, 18 seconds since John Klingberg's power-play goal last Tuesday against Edmonton.
"You go through these stretches," Stars interim coach Rick Bowness said. "It's bad timing, but this is playoff hockey right now. It's a grind, it's low scoring, and you've got to find ways."
The Stars' chances of winning the Central Division have diminished. Dallas was four points behind the St. Louis Blues after a 4-1 win over Carolina on Feb. 25 but will 10 points back in the Central.
The Stars are coming off consecutive shutout losses to the Nashville Predators. They were blanked for the sixth time this season on Saturday in a 1-0 loss when they held a 37-23 advantage in shots on goal. Leading scorer Tyler Seguin was unable to find the net while taking six shots.
During the current slide, the Stars are outshooting opponents 168-139 but are 2 of 14 on the power play and have allowed seven power-play goals in 16 chances.
Dallas is 5-1 in the past six meetings with the Rangers. The Stars posted a 5-3 win in New York on Feb. 3 when Joe Pavelski scored two power-play goals in 16 seconds during the opening period.
--Field Level Media
