• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Maple Leafs-Rangers Preview

Apr 7, 2010 - 5:40 AM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

Toronto (29-36-14) at New York (36-32-10), 7:00 p.m. EDT

The New York Rangers are running out of time to secure a playoff berth, but a fortuitous season-ending schedule could help them. A better performance from Henrik Lundqvist would also provide a major lift.

Lundqvist should be back in net as the Rangers attempt to take advantage of a meeting with the Eastern Conference-worst Toronto Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.

With three games left in the regular season, New York (36-33-10) is ninth in the East, three points back of Boston for the eighth and final playoff spot and four behind seventh-place Philadelphia.

The Rangers might be in ideal position to catch one of those teams, especially with a game in hand on the Flyers.

After facing Toronto (29-37-14), New York concludes the season with a home-and-home set against Philadelphia this weekend. If the Rangers win all three games, they're guaranteed a playoff spot.

"This is our season," said center Brandon Dubinsky, who has three goals and three assists in his last nine games. "Until all eight teams are locked, we're going to continue to fight."

The Rangers failed to help themselves Tuesday, losing 5-2 at Buffalo.

"We didn't play well enough to win," coach John Tortorella said. "We have another game to play (Wednesday) and we need to be better from our goaltending on out."

Lundqvist got pulled early in the second period Tuesday after allowing three goals on 16 shots. Backup Alex Auld wasn't much better, giving up two goals on 14 Sabres shots.

Lundqvist had been 5-0-1 with a 1.65 goals-against average and two shutouts in his previous six games - the lone loss coming in a 3-2 overtime defeat at Toronto on March 27. He made 29 saves before allowing Nikolai Kulemin's deciding goal 39 seconds into the extra session.

Even after that performance, Lundqvist has won two of three games against the Leafs this season while posting a 1.99 GAA.

The Maple Leafs are at the bottom of the East and are assured of missing the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season. They've dropped four of five, including a 2-0 home loss to Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Toronto's punchless power play has been a major problem all season, ranking last in the NHL with a 14.2 percent success rate. The unit has been even worse lately, going 2 for 48 over the past 12 games. It came up empty on all six chances against the Flyers.

"Our power play has been god awful a good part of the season," coach Ron Wilson said. "We've got to find people who are going to do some of the grunt work like having Colton Orr on the last power play. It was the only power play where we had sustained pressure because he won some battles and retrieved some pucks."

Phil Kessel, the Leafs' leader with 30 goals and 55 points, has been kept off the scoresheet in consecutive games after scoring nine goals - two on the power play - with five assists in his previous 15 contests.

The right wing has one goal and two assists in 12 career games against the Rangers. He failed to get a point against them last month and posted a minus-2 rating.

Toronto concludes its season Saturday at Montreal.