The Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers are headed for elimination from the playoff race, and both teams could be sending some core players elsewhere with the NHL trade deadline on Friday.
In the meantime, the Maple Leafs will attempt to end a five-game losing streak Thursday night when they visit the Eastern Conference cellar-dwelling Rangers in their final game before the deadline.
Coming off four straight seasons of at least 100 points, Toronto is trending toward missing the postseason for the first time since 2015-16 — the season before it selected Auston Matthews with the top overall pick.
The Maple Leafs are 0-3-2 in their past five games and 4-9-4 in their past 17 on the heels of a 10-game points streak (8-0-2) from Dec. 23-Jan. 12.
Nearly two months after that points streak, the Maple Leafs trail the Boston Bruins by eight points for the second wild-card spot but also are behind four other teams. On Wednesday, Toronto held out pending unrestricted free agents Scott Laughton and Bobby McCann along with defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson for roster management purposes ahead of a possible trade.
Without the trio, the Maple Leafs settled for a point with a 4-3 shootout loss to the host New Jersey Devils. Matias Maccelli, William Nylander and Matthew Knies each scored a goal but Toronto squandered a trio of one-goal leads and could not secure the win when Nylander and Matthews were stopped in the shootout.
“We’re not gonna hang our heads low and feel defeated,” Knies said. “I think we’re still in it. Like, we still have a chance. So, keep believing in that. And, you know, hopefully it all works out. But it’s a crappy feeling that we put ourselves in this situation. But, again, it’s on the guys in this locker room to change course and get it back to where it was.”
The Rangers traded Artemi Panarin and Carson Soucy before the Olympic break and may make more moves, notably by dealing Vincent Trocheck and possibly trading younger players Alexis Lafreniere and Braden Schneider.
As of Wednesday, there was not any indication either player would get held out for roster management reasons.
“We just got to focus on playing. That’s all we can do as a group. Losing guys, that’s the business,” Lafreniere told reporters at practice Wednesday. “But when you’re in the lineup you (have) to play.”
One Rangers player who will be missing is J.T. Miller, but not for roster management. Miller was placed on injured reserve after sustaining an upper-body injury in the third period of Monday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Rangers are headed for a second straight season out of playoffs as they enter Thursday with the second-fewest points in the NHL. New York is 3-11-3 in its past 17 games since a 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers in the Winter Classic on Jan. 2.
The Rangers have a point in three straight games (1-0-2) for the first time since Dec. 2-7 when they were 2-0-2 and are coming off their wildest game of the season. New York took the loss to Columbus despite erasing a four-goal deficit with four goals in the third period.
Rookie Gabe Perreault scored twice and netted the tying goal with 4:46 left and will be among the younger players the Rangers give significant playing time in the final weeks. Defensemen Vladislav Gavrikov and Will Borgen also scored for New York.
