NHL Playoffs : Postseason Hope Remains Alive, Lottery Hopes Fading

The Rangers won an exciting game last night. With the game tied, Chris Drury scored with just 17 seconds remaining and beat the Devils 4-3 in a shootout.

Here are the updated standings

7. Philadelphia – 80 points – Eight games remaining
8. Boston – 78 points – Nine games remaining
9. Atlanta – 76 points – Eight games remaining
10. Rangers – 75 points – Eight games remaining
11. Tampa Bay – 72 points – Eight games remaining

Here are the standings for the bottom of the league

23. Rangers – 75 points – Eight games remaining
24. Tampa Bay – 72 points – Eight games remaining
25. Columbus – 72 points – Eight games remaining
26. Florida – 71 points – Nine games remaining
27. Carolina – 71 points – Eight games remaining
28. Islanders – 70 points – Eight games remaining
29. Toronto – 66 points – Eight games remaining
30. Edmonton – 55 points – Nine games remaining

So the Rangers are currently three points behind the Bruins for a playoff spot and are just five points ahead of the Islanders, who are in 28th place in the NHL.

As unlikely as it is that they’ll make the playoffs, if they do make them they would be a hot team going into the playoffs. Maybe they wouldn’t necessarily be first-round losers.

Here are some other newsworthy items:

• The Rangers have been leaning on Henrik Lundqvist awfully hard.
• Ryan Callahan re-aggravated his leg injury in the second period last night.
• The Rangers beat the Devils in a shootout last night, but they had the advantage of not facing Ilya Kovalchuk.
• Awful hockey player Aaron Voros could return tomorrow .

Finally, here are video highlights from last night:

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• March 23, 2010 -- Rangers Keeping Faith but Truth is Bleak (0)
• March 24, 2010 -- Post-Game: Rangers keep playoff hopes alive with 5-0 shutout over Isles (2)
• March 22, 2010 -- Callahan Questionable Vs Islanders After Missing 3rd Period Yesterday (0)
• March 20, 2010 -- On Lundqvist’s Rough-Nights the Rangers Can’t Win (0)