How the New York Rangers Match Up with Potential 1st-Round Playoff Opponents

The New York Rangers wrapped up the Presidents' Trophy on Tuesday night with a 4-2 victory in New Jersey. With two games remaining, the Rangers can rest, relax and get themselves mentally prepared for a first-round matchup with...well, there are a lot of teams still fighting for the final wild-card spot in the East.

Before we look at that, one note: There is no Presidents' Trophy jinx. Winning the trophy is actually super terrific because it gives you home-ice advantage throughout the entire postseason. Of the 29 teams to win the trophy, eight have won the Stanley Cup, three lost in the Cup Final and five others reached the conference finals before bowing out. 

More than half the teams to win the Presidents' Trophy have reached the NHL's final four. Finishing with the NHL's best record is not a bad thing.

Neither are most of the potential first-round matchups for the Rangers. There are six teams that could face the Rangers in Round 1; some provide favorable matchups, some look like they could give the Rangers some trouble. 

Let's take a look at those six teams in order of easiest to toughest opponent.

1. Detroit Red Wings

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Season series: The teams have met four times and split those games.

The matchup: The Red Wings are a good team but are a lesser version of the Rangers. Both teams play a speed game, and the Red Wings have been stronger possession-wise this season, but the Rangers look like the better team in all three key areas—forwards, defense and goaltending. 

The Rangers are James Franco; the Red Wings are Dave Franco. Both are good, but we all know James is the better actor.

The Red Wings have also been playing poorly for about two months. Since Feb. 11, they are 11-13-4, and the biggest problem has been goaltending. Unless Jimmy Howard or Petr Mrazek round into form immediately, the Red Wings are in trouble.

2. New York Islanders

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Season series: The Islanders won three of five, but the Rangers won the two most recent meetings.

The matchup: Earlier in the season, this looked like the worst possible matchup for the Rangers. The Islanders worked them over pretty good in the first three games and looked like a dominant, cohesive team. Then the Rangers railed for a win in the fourth meeting and things turned bad after the Rangers won the fifth meeting.

Since the Rangers won 2-1 on Long Island on March 5, the Islanders are 3-7-2. 

The Rangers have the experience edge as well, and while anything can happen when two rivals get together in the playoffs, the Islanders would need some magic to win this series.

3. Ottawa Senators

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Season series: The Rangers are 2-0 against the Senators with a matchup scheduled for Thursday at Madison Square Garden.

The matchup: The Senators have been the NHL's best team over the past two months. Andrew Hammond has been a great story in net. The Rangers won a recent matchup against Hammond and the Senators, 5-1, saddling the goaltender with his worst loss of the season.

Coach Dave Cameron has utilized his young players well and has the Senators turned around. While this is the third "easiest" matchup on the list, there would be nothing easy about it. With the way Ottawa has been playing, it would come down to Hammond vs. Henrik Lundqvist, and that matchup heavily favors the Rangers.

4. Pittsburgh Penguins

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Season series: The Rangers won three of four meetings with the Penguins, who had both Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby for those games.

The matchup: The reason why it's notable that the Penguins had Malkin and Crosby is because the Penguins play at about a 110-point pace when they're in the lineup and become decidedly average when one or both are out. They are both healthy now, although they have lost their past two games since Malkin returned from an undisclosed injury.

With Crosby and Malkin, the Penguins can beat anyone. But when Rob Scuderi is referring to the team as "fragile" with two games left, maybe it doesn't matter who is healthy. And with Marc-Andre Fleury's track record in net, he's capable of back-to-back playoff shutouts or allowing four goals in a period. You just don't know.

This one feels like a bit of a tossup and probably comes down to the health status of Kris Letang and Christian Ehrhoff along with which Fleury shows up for the postseason.

5. Washington Capitals

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Season series: With the season finale for each team pending, the Rangers have taken two of three from the Capitals, although Washington won the most recent meeting in New York.

The matchup: This one could be the first real problem for the Rangers. The Capitals are hardly the most physical team, but their size looked to be an issue when the Rangers lost to them 5-2 on March 29. Braden Holtby can go toe-to-toe with Lundqvist, and Alex Ovechkin has been the best player in the league this year outside of Carey Price in Montreal.

It all likely doesn't matter, however, as the Capitals are the least likely opponent for the Rangers in the first round. The Capitals would need to lose their final two games in regulation and have everyone around them win out. This is more a Round 2 concern, should it come to be.

6. Boston Bruins

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Season series: The Bruins won two of three against the Rangers, including a 4-2 win against a visibly rusty Lundqvist in his return from a two-month absence on March 28.

The matchup: This would present the Rangers with their biggest challenge. The Bruins have experience, a capable goaltender in Tuukka Rask and, most importantly, size throughout the lineup. The Rangers have a huge edge in speed, but in the playoffs, when clutching and grabbing become the norm, a bigger, more physical team tends to have the edge.

It's also easier to neutralize speed than size. If the Bruins stay on the right side of the puck in the offensive zone and neutral zone, the Rangers' speed becomes less of a weapon. The Rangers defense is mobile but not all that big, which means a long, punishing series could await them if the Bruins finish eighth. If the Rangers win this series, they will have the bruises to prove it.

It will come down to health too. If Zdeno Chara and Dougie Hamilton are at full strength, the Bruins have a real chance at pulling the upset. That's great for Boston and bad for the rest of the world, as we will be subjected to days of "Presidents' Trophy jinx" talk for days afterward.

All stats courtesy of NHL.com.