It's now or never time for the bumbling Blueshirts.
Starting tonight in Dallas, the NHL season could blow up in the Rangers' faces and that – fantastic as it may seem – includes actually missing the playoffs.
After playing the elite Stars, coach Peter Laviolette's disorderly retreating New Yorkers return to Ye Olde Garden on Sunday for the crafty Canes and then it's Monday into Newark vs. the strong Devils.
"Those are three of the best clubs in the league," says The Old Scout, "and the way the Rangers have been losing, they could drop all three."
In fact, if Dallas does win tonight it would drop the Blueshirts down below the .500 mark. (And The Maven asks you, what could be worse than that? Don't answer, we know.)
On the other hand, a victory for the Visitors is not out of the question. 1. The Law of Averages says they're due; 2. Igor Shesterkin is due; and 3. Slumping Blueshirts such as Chris Kreider are way overdue.
"We're going to try and win a hockey game," says Kreider who happens to be on the trading block but has no takers.
Speaking of "no takers," the Rangers slump has coincided with the departure of their last captain, Jacob Trouba. (It's called cause and effect.)
Boss Chris Drury has chosen not to replace Trouba so the R's have no "C" and that's equated with no leadership.
And that may also be a major source of the club's ailment; the captain is a phantom. (Imagine a stealth captain.)
To fill the leadership void both Kreider and Vincent Trocheck have been confronting the media which means we have to call them "Leaders Without Portfolio."
Trocheck went out of his way to deny a report that he and his fellow stickhandlers held a players-only meeting to discuss their disgust with the manner in which Drury has been orchestrating the team.
What Trocheck didn't do was deny many nasty – and well-substantiated – allegations made by USA reporter Vincent Mercogliano. (Drury's management practices were well-toasted.)
Beating all the local beat reporters by a Central Park mile, Mercogliano detailed enough machinations to make a Drury fan spray that John Davidson was back at the helm.
The allegations included a never-reported – nor explained – firing of a long-time beloved trainer. Player-media restrictions and assorted other nonsense was detailed. It was enough to make Bugs Bunny gasp.
But as last Stanley Cup-winning Rangers GM Neil Smith always says there is a cure and it could be a franchise-saving move tonight in Dallas.
"Win a game!"