Will Pittsburgh catch the Rangers?

[MrBrightside]

Six points behind with each team having 16 games left, including 2 head-to-head. Pens getting Sid and Letang back within the next week or so, it appears...

[Jepprey]

Yes. Because Sidney said so.

[Human]

depends a lot on the head-to-head games.

[Killem Dafoe]

yes if the Rangers keep playing like they have.

[Keaver]

You really can't leave the Flyers out of this conversation either with the way Bryz has been playing as of late.

[Chicago Made Punk]

Yeup.

[Pick87your71Poison]

Yeah the head to head games make this interesting. Pens play the Rangers 2x and the Flyers 3x. Just looking at the schedule, with 2/4 games in April against Philly, the Pens and Flyers could play 9 times in April. Would be epic.

[WhatThePuck]

If the Rangers continue with their anemic offence , lousy PP and not fix it....then sadly,yes,Pitt will catch them.

[jigglysquishy]

It all depends on how Sid plays.

If the team performs as good as they are now AND Sid goes back to form they are the best team in the league.

[JWells16]

It depends entirely on the head to heads. If the Rangers win even one of them in regulation, it would be very difficult.

[MrBrightside]

Tonight can tighten things up even more. The Pens get the Panthers at home while the Rangers are at Chicago. Wouldn't be a surprise to wake up tomorrow with the Pens 4 points back.

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

It's possible. It all depends on the head to heads.

[Qurpiz]

Just because I want to put this into use

[ORYX]

i understand peoples fascination with the head to heads, but there are 14 other games that if you arent keeping up, the head to heads are not as important.

lets not forget there are 14 other games....

[Pick87your71Poison]

Originally Posted by ORYX

i understand peoples fascination with the head to heads, but there are 14 other games that if you arent keeping up, the head to heads are not as important.

lets not forget there are 14 other games....

They're huge, those are 4 pt games. Right now, if they Pens win and the Rangers lose, we gain 2 points back on them. If the Rangers win a head to head, we need 2 games for each team to go perfect (Pens win, Rangers lose) to get that result. That's 3 games right there. Throwing in the fact that we need to make up 3+ regulation games on them already, you run out of games pretty quickly in that scenario.

[proper animal]

This Rangers fan thinks so. Or at least they'll get close.

[Krnage]

lundqvist would not let that happen

[Shrimper]

I hope so. Would be an amazing achievement considering our injuries.

Both teams have the same number of games left - 16.

Rangers have to play Boston * 1, Pittsburgh * 2, Philadelphia * 1, New Jersey * 1, Ottawa *1 - Teams likely to be in the play-offs.

Pittsburgh have to play - Rangers * 2, Boston * 2, Philadelphia *3, New Jersey * 2 and Ottawa * 1

I'd say Pittsburgh's run in is harder - but it's all to play for.

[Jaded-Fan]

I doubt it, it is a lot of ground to make up in a short period of time. Can I say that I do not care though?

Sure, would be a nice story, but the whole playoff matchup thing always makes me wary, anything can and does happen in the playoffs. So that I could care less about. And getting your nose dirty early on, like a likely playoff series with the Flyers would do, would get the Pens into the playoff mood right off the bat. Bring on the Flyers and have the Pens focused instead of some supposed pushover that will turn out to be anything but.

Give me a healthy motivated Crosby along with a healthy rest of the team which has been playing pretty well without him, and the route we take into and through the playoffs does not matter at all to me.

[jonrazor12]

If Pitt wins tonight and NYR loses then it becomes likely considering how Pitt has been playing as of late

[SundanceKid]

I'm not sure why any team would want to catch the rangers. I think the sweet spot is 6th place so that you end up playing the winner of the Southeast division....lol.

[SteelFish87]

Originally Posted by SundanceKid

I'm not sure why any team would want to catch the rangers. I think the sweet spot is 6th place so that you end up playing the winner of the Southeast division....lol.

1st place is better for obvious reasons

[billybudd]

I'd be surprised. The Rags should snap out of it shortly. They're losing, but it isn't like there's a San Jose Toronto tailspin happening on broadway.

Even if the rangers only play 500 hockey until the end of the year, 6 points is a lot of ground to close when some of those losses count for 1 point.

[Qurpiz]

Originally Posted by SteelFish87

1st place is better for obvious reasons

For the rounds beyond 1st round, no argument. But in the first round, I really think any team facing Florida/Winnipeg would come out as the winner

[Lazyking]

Definitely possible.. I still think the Rangers will hold on.