Playoff-bound Rangers must focus on seeding, health

The Rangers trail their cross-Hudson River rivals, the New Jersey Devils, by four points entering Tuesday’s action and hold a game in hand. New York will pick up that game on Tuesday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets, which have the Eastern Conference’s worst record. 

The Devils are idle until Thursday, when the Rangers visit the Prudential Center in what could be a pivotal game.

As long as the Rangers handle business against Columbus, New Jersey will hold a lead of only two points over New York. After Thursday’s game, New York will only face two teams currently sitting in a playoff spot (Tampa Bay and Toronto). New Jersey, meanwhile, will play against three (Winnipeg, Pittsburgh and Boston).

The Metropolitan Division’s No. 2 seed is within the Rangers' grasp, but New York must also focus on keeping the team healthy. That all starts with Ryan Lindgren.

The Rangers’ top left-shot defenseman has only played one game since Feb. 25, when he took a hard hit from Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie. He is working himself back, but New York seems to be taking it slowly with integrating him back into the lineup.

Lindgren is a linchpin on the Rangers’ back end. When healthy, he is stapled to star defenseman Adam Fox and allows the former Norris Trophy winner to play his best hockey.

Without him, New York’s blueline gets completely shaken up and torpedoes the team’s defensive depth.

Niko Mikkola was brought in from St. Louis as a part of the Vladimir Tarasenko trade to be a bottom-pairing partner for Braden Schneider. In Lindgren’s absence, however, he was asked to play top-pairing minutes alongside Fox. He performed admirably, but that configuration is not sustainable.

New York has two back-to-backs in their last nine games, giving it plenty of opportunities to give Lindgren — and any other banged-up players — a chance to rest and recover. 

The second game of each back-to-back is against a non-playoff team, and because the Rangers already have a playoff spot locked up, they can afford to play with their lineup.