Hi All, just wanted to lay out the remaining season as it stands now and why the Rangers may or may not make the playoffs.

Right now they stand at 12-9-2, or 26 pts. That leaves 25 games left, 9 at home and 16 away. Let's assume that 55 points gets them in. That would mean that they need 29 pts out of the remaining 25 games. Here is a breakdown of those games by team (current conf ranking in brackets):

Pens (2) - 3 games, Car (3) - 3, Habs (4) - 1, Leafs (5) - 2, Sens (6) - 1, NJ (7) - 3, Jets (8) - 2, Isles (9) - 1, Philly (10) - 2, Caps (11) - 2, Buff (13) - 2, FL (14) - 3.

Home games - Car, FL (2), Caps, Jets, Pens, Leafs, NJ (2).

Away games - Pens (2), Car (2), Habs, Leafs, Sens, NJ, Jets, Isles, Philly (2), Caps, Buff (2), FL.

Back to backs - Mar 18, 19; Apr 5, 6; Apr 18,19. The 2nd games are all on the road at NJ, Car, and Buff respectively.

So where are the 29 pts coming from? Let's assume they go 6-3 at home, that's 12 pts. Now let's assume they lose the Habs' game, one Pens' road game, and the 3 back end games of the back to backs. That's 5 losses out of the 16 remaining road games. So out of 11 road games left, they need 17 pts. 8 or 9 wins out of 11? Wow, that's tough on the road and why the Rangers have dug themselves a hole by not winning their home games early in the year.

Thoughts?