The New York Rangers are set to begin their first long road trip of the season as they visit Seattle and three cities in Western Canada. This road trip comes at a crucial time as they look to build off of their 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks after playing up-and-down hockey over these past few weeks. They are 6-4-0 over their last 10 games and have yet to a play consistently in any of their games so far this season.
They are hoping for deja vu because when they went on this road trip last season, they came out of it winning every game and it truly solidified how the team would play for the remainder of the season, a season in which they won the Presidents’ Trophy and went to the Eastern Conference Final. Now, they are looking to have the same kind of success and hopefully, they can once again build off of this road trip and turn it into a successful rest of the season.
Rangers Went 5-0 on This Road Trip Last Season
While they won’t be visiting Winnipeg on this current road trip, the Rangers will still have to face the same four teams that they beat last season. It starts with the Seattle Kraken and then they move on to the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames and finish off the trip with a visit to Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. They were 2-2-0 when they started this road trip last season and were coming off a game in which the Nashville Predators destroyed them. Things were not looking great at the time and this road trip came at a crucial time last season, as the Rangers needed to show that they could be a dominant team, and boy did they ever.
It started with a 4-1 win over the Kraken and they followed it up with a 3-1 victory over the Flames, a 3-0 shutout of the Oilers, a 4-3 overtime win against the Canucks and finally another overtime win, 3-2 over the Winnipeg Jets. It became the first time in franchise history that they had ever swept a five-game road trip. It truly gave the team so much life and momentum that carried on through the rest of the season. Not only did it prove that they could beat good teams, but it also showed they could be just as dominant away from Madison Square Garden and established them as one of the top road teams in the NHL.
Rangers Starting This Trip Without Filip Chytil
While the Rangers did get a win in their last game against the Sharks, the biggest news coming out of the game was around the health of Filip Chytil. He had an accidental collision with K’Andre Miller in the second period and while he did leave for a while, he came back and took one more shift in the second period. However, he did not return for the third and was ruled out with an upper-body injury. He did not practice with the team and did not make the trip to Seattle, so he will be out for at least the first game of this road trip. He wasn’t ruled out completely for the entire trip and it was said that he could join the team later on, but only if he gets cleared by the doctors first.
Related: Rangers’ Kakko And Vesey Quietly Stepping Up
This injury comes at such a horrible time as he, along with his linemates, Will Cuylle and Kaapo Kakko, were all having amazing seasons and were the Rangers’ best line so far this season. They were the only line in the NHL that have played over 100 minutes together that have not been on the ice for a goal against and have outscored their opponents 11-0. With Chytil, you have to be concerned about another possible head injury, as he seemed very shaken up and slow getting off the ice after the initial hit. If this is indeed another head injury, the priority for him is not the game of hockey, but his life off the ice. We will have to wait and see and hopefully get more updates over the next few days.
Rangers Need to Have a Successful Road Trip
While they might not sweep the road trip this time around, it is still possible for them to have a successful one. They need to start playing more consistent hockey and this is the perfect time to start doing it. They will be playing some lesser teams on this trip and they won’t have the pressure of playing in front of their home crowd. The Rangers are also going to need more production from their top two lines with Chytil out. Both Mika Zibanejad and Vincent Trocheck have been having very underwhelming seasons so far. They both scored in the last game and will need to continue to score and play better if the Rangers want this to be a successful road trip.
This week-long road trip is going to be one of the biggest tests of the season for the Rangers. They are currently 5-1-0 away from home this season and they have been a very good road team over the past few seasons. They are going to need to be once again as they face some true adversity for the first time this season. If they can come out of this trip with more positives than negatives, then maybe they can build off of it and gain momentum from it this season just like they did last season.
