Colin Stephenson: The Rangers' unwanted winning streak and why fans prefer losses over wins
Adam Fox of the Rangers skates with the puck during the second period against the Florida Panthers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Rangers are on a winning streak, but not all of their fans are happy about that.
The team is out of the playoff hunt and general manager Chris Drury is looking to reconstruct the roster. Plenty of Rangers fans would have preferred to see the team lose its last two games, Friday to Chicago and Sunday afternoon to Florida, to improve its odds in the draft lottery.
At the moment, the Vancouver Canucks (50 points) look like a lock to finish with the worst record and have the best chance of winning the No. 1 overall pick in the lottery. The Rangers, at the start of the weekend, had the second-fewest points in the league and the second-best chance to win the lottery. But after these two recent wins, they are in the third spot with 69 points, behind Chicago (67) and with Calgary (70) right behind them.
The difference between the second spot and third spot in the draft order is dropping from a 13.6% chance to win the top pick to 11.6%. And with a few more wins, the Rangers potentially could fall out of the top five.
Adam Fox, who grew up in Jericho as a Rangers fan, is well aware of how some fans are feeling about the Blueshirts’ won-loss record these days, but he and his teammates are not interested in playing games and not trying to win. No Tanks.
“I think every time you go on that ice, it’s hard not to try and win,’’ Fox told Newsday after Sunday’s 3-1 win over Florida, which improved them to 30-35-9 with eight games remaining in the season. “Just, that’s the nature of it. You see it in football too, when a team that’s [in position to earn] the first overall pick wins a game in Week 18.
“You’re always playing for something,’’ he said. “You’re always being evaluated. It’s a business here. It’s a league, and decisions get made. And we know the position we’re in, but [it would] be doing a disservice to us, the fans, the organization, to go out there and not try, not care. So I think the biggest thing for us is, we’re motivated to win games.
“We know it won’t help us get to the playoffs or anything. But, you know, there’s a culture we’ve been trying to build. I think that’s the biggest thing.
“And if you go out there and play [lackadaisically], I think that is doing a disservice to everyone in here.’’
Fox had an empty-net goal Sunday that gave the Rangers a 3-0 lead and also had the primary assist on Adam Sykora’s goal that opened the scoring at 5:10 of the third period.
Goalie Igor Shesterkin refused to be beaten in a first period in which the Rangers started out sluggishly and were outshot 15-4. It’s hard for the Rangers to tank games when their Russian goaltender is making world-class saves to keep his team in games.
“When he’s playing like that, we’re a tough team to beat, even when we don’t have our ‘A’ game,’’ Fox said.
“He’s a superstar goaltender in this league and he gives us a chance to win each and every night,’’ coach Mike Sullivan said.
Which, of course, is not conducive to a team tanking to try to get a higher draft pick.
Shesterkin is 23-16-6 with a 2.55 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage, and if he and Fox hadn’t gotten hurt when they did, on Jan. 5, the Rangers might be fighting for a playoff spot. Shesterkin is fifth in the league in goals saved above expectations, according to moneypuck.com.
The Rangers went 2-11-1 in the 14 games that Shesterkin and Fox both missed with lower-body injuries before returning after the Olympic break. Had both been healthy, the Rangers might not be in the mix for a potential shot at drafting expected No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna.
Now, though, they have a pretty good shot at being able to pick the Penn State winger or Swedish forward Ivar Stenberg this summer. All they have to do is not win so many games.
Which, with competitors like Shesterkin and Fox and hungry youngsters like Sykora going all out, is proving to be not so easy to do.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
