The Rangers and Red Wings haven’t directly competed against one another for a playoff spot since 1969-70. Both clubs made it on the final weekend of that season that ended with the bizarre last day on which the Blueshirts hammered Detroit 9-5 at the Garden while pulling goaltender Ed Giacomin with a 9-3 lead in the afternoon, before the Canadiens lost in Chicago 10-2 while pulling goaltender Rogie Vachon once down 5-2 that night.
The only other time since World War II came in 1961-62, when the Rangers grabbed the final berth by four points over the Red Wings, keyed by a 3-2 victory over Detroit at the Garden on Mar. 14, 1962 in which Andy Bathgate broke a 2-2 tie by scoring on a penalty shot at 9:03 of the third period against Hank Bassen.
So although the clubs share the romantic Original Six heritage, there is little in their shared past — other than the 1950 Finals in which the Red Wings prevailed in Game 7 double overtime after the Blueshirts had taken a 3-2 lead in the series, in which five games were played in Detroit, including the final four, while two were played in Toronto and none in New York because the circus had commandeered the Garden — to bind the club as historical rivals.
Of course, until this year, the Rangers and Red Wings hadn’t been in the same conference since 1992-93. The next year, the Red Wings moved west, where they stayed until this season’s realignment. Coincidental, isn’t it, how Detroit manages to position itself to play in the weaker conference?
But if it has been more than four decades since the two clubs were in direct competition for a postseason berth, that’s exactly the circumstance now, with the Rangers one point ahead of Detroit in the battle for an Eastern Conference wild-card position as the Red Wings visit the Garden on Thursday.
The Rangers and Maple Leafs held the two wild-card spots, each with 51 points, before Toronto’s match at home against the Sabres on Wednesday. The Red Wings have 50 points (tied with the Senators and Devils), with two games in hand on the Blueshirts and three on the Leafs. Detroit had one game in hand on the Senators and two on the Devils.
Detroit has won only 20 of 46 games (20-16-10), 17 in regulation, two in overtime and one by shootout in going 1-7 in the skills competition. Of course, the Red Wings — who haven’t won fewer than 43 games in a full season since 1996-97, when they won 38 before capturing their first Stanley Cup since 1955 — do have excuses for their middling performance, and they’re either on or have been on injured reserve.
Indeed, Pavel Datsyuk, who has missed 11 games this year, will be out Thursday with a lower-body issue. Daniel Alfredsson, who has missed eight games, is questionable with back spasms. Jonathan Ericsson, who has missed 17 matches, is on IR with broken ribs.
Johan Franzen, who has missed 16 games, is on IR with a head injury. Stephen Weiss, sidelined for 20 overall, is on IR recovering from sports hernia surgery. Jimmy Howard, who has won only eight of 26 starts (8-10-8), is questionable with a hip flexor. Additionally, Tomas Tatar will not play, as he has been excused to attend his father’s funeral in Slovakia.
At least Henrik Zetterberg, who missed nearly all of December with a herniated disc in his back, is scheduled to play for the Red Wings, who are 13-8-7 within the East and 7-8-3 against the West after getting out while the getting was good.
Derek Stepan, who failed to record a shot in Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat to the Lightning, has not scored a goal in 12 games (four assists) since a Dec. 20 power-play goal against the Islanders. Stepan has one goal in his last 14 and two in his last 29. The putative first-line center has seven goals overall including a Nov. 2 hat trick.
The Rangers, who did not skate on Wednesday, had seven shot attempts bidding for the tying goal on a power play that started at 15:21 of the third period on Tuesday, but four were blocked and one went wide. The Blueshirts generated five attempts — with one on goaltender Ben Bishop — in the first 1:25 of the man-advantage before the Lightning could clear the zone.