Rangers left with far-fetched playoff scenario after brutal shutouts
NY Post
After Saturday’s shutout loss to the Islanders, there is now only one improbable scenario for the Rangers to make the playoffs.
The Blueshirts would have to win all four of their remaining games, two against the second-place Capitals and two against the team they’re trailing by eight points, the Bruins. Not only would they have to win outright, but Boston would have to go 0-6 over its final games of the season to lose the fourth playoff spot in the East Division. It’s not just an unlikely situation, it’s farfetched.It was only a three-second glimpse, but Matt Rempe, finally, showcased offensive strides. The ones he started talking about in the preseason — after a summer’s worth of work — and kept doubling down on, even when he fluctuated in and out of the Rangers lineup and shuttled back and forth to AHL Hartford.
In a different time, in a season to come, we may be inclined to wax poetic about the way this one played out. In a different time, in a season to come, the Nets will be seeking to stack wins and not losses, will be fighting for playoff seeding and not for a few extra ping-pong balls in the draft lottery this spring.
The NBA has an All-Star Game problem. Despite Adam Silver’s efforts to inject juice into the February showcase — including a format alteration to the 2025 game that is too confusing to attempt to understand before it’s inevitably changed again — there’s little interest in watching teams eschew defense for a series of layup line highlights. That also means the most entertaining part of the NBA All-Star Game is just like the Pro Bowl — debating over who should get a spot.