On Easter Sunday, the Rangers are one of 30 NHL teams that have off to celebrate the holiday. There’s only one game later this afternoon when the Ducks take on the Canucks in Vancouver.

At least they get it right when it comes to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. As exciting as the product is with scoring up, thanks in large part to the rule changes, it would be nice if the league did a better job with the schedule. There needs to be a change moving forward.

Most hockey fans enjoy rivalry games. Those generate the most interest. For the Rangers, playing the Islanders, Devils, Flyers, Penguins, and Capitals brings a unique element. There’s more of a buzz when you have traditional rivalries. The Islanders are the biggest rival for the Rangers. It’s over half a century old.

The names on the backs of the jerseys have changed over the years. Long gone are the  days of Potvin, Trottier, Bossy, Smith, Nystrom, and Gillies for the Islanders. The Blueshirts featured Esposito, Maloney, Greschner, Nilsson, Duguay, and Davidson. In 1979, the Rangers upset the Islanders in the NHL Semi-finals to take on the Canadiens for the Stanley Cup. They lost in five games.

The Islanders would eliminate the Rangers from the playoffs in four consecutive years (1981-84). That included Ken Morrow scoring an overtime winner in the deciding Game 5 to send the Islanders to the Patrick Division Finals. They won two more series before finally losing to the Gretzky and Messier Oilers for the Cup in 1984. That ended their dynasty.

The Rangers had a lot of good teams in the 80s. But they never could break through. The closest they came was in 1986 when they reached the Wales Conference Finals behind John Vanbiesbrouck. However, they ran into rookie Patrick Roy and the Canadiens. Montreal took the series in five and went on to win the Cup.

Most notably, the Rangers finally got the better of the Islanders in the first round during their run to the Stanley Cup in 1994. Led by Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Adam Graves, and Mike Richter, they dominated the Islanders to sweep them in impressive fashion.

That team would then oust the Caps in five and then dig deep to beat the Devils in a classic seven-game Eastern Conference Finals. “Matteau, Matteau” can still be heard in these parts. They went seven games to defeat the Canucks to capture the franchise’s fourth championship. They’re still waiting for another one three decades later.

If there’s a disappointing aspect to the regular season schedule, it’s the lack of emphasis on divisional games. The Rangers didn’t play the Islanders until the memorable outdoor game on Feb. 18 at Met Life Stadium. They came back from a two-goal deficit late in the third period to force overtime. Artemi Panarin won it 10 seconds in for a wild 6-5 victory.

Since then, the two New York rivals faced off on Saint Patrick’s Day. That game was won by the Rangers 5-2. They scored the last three goals to pull away. Both Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere had goals in the third to dash Islanders’ hopes.

The two teams will clash on April 9 and 13. If the Islanders are still in the playoff hunt, those will be significant games. If because of the way they play these days. Even Roy hasn’t been able to get them to play consistently. They trail the Flyers by five points for the final wildcard with nine games remaining.

There’s nothing wrong with having a pair of rivalry games that late in the season. Especially when there could be some meaning. The Rangers likely will still be battling for the President’s Trophy. Plus, they’ll likely have a chance to eliminate their crosstown rivals. There should be a lot of energy in the buildings for those tilts.

If there’s an issue with the schedule, it’s that there aren’t enough games inside the division. They play an 82-game schedule. The Rangers only see the Penguins three times. Tomorrow night, when Sidney Crosby and the Penguins visit Madison Square Garden, it’ll be the only time they’ll play in the Big Apple. That isn’t ideal for the league.

Crosby is a remarkable superstar who’s been one of the game’s greatest players. He’s still the face of the league. Even at 36, he remains a productive player. With an assist on Saturday, he’s up to 79 points in 73 games.

Crosby is closing in on 19 consecutive seasons of averaging over a point-per-game. If not for injuries, he’d likely have over 1700 points and chasing 2000. In 1263 games, he has 1581 points. That’s an average of 1.25 per game for his career. That’s legendary.

Astonishingly, the Pens are going to miss the playoffs for a second straight year. It speaks to how mismanaged they’ve been. Signing both Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin to deals with both in their mid-30’s wasn’t very wise. Both are revered in the Steel City for what they’ve done in the past. They teamed up with Crosby to win three Cups, including going back-to-back in 2015-16 and 2016-17.

Neither was trading for Erik Karlsson. Even signing former Devil Ryan Graves hasn’t worked out. When they traded popular star forward Jake Guentzel to the Hurricanes, it wasn’t received well by Crosby. You could understand the frustration. What exactly is the plan in Pittsburgh?

Crosby has one more year left on his contract. The $8.7 million cap hit is the biggest bargain in hockey. He’s been such a great player for the Pens. The question is, does he want to stay? He can sign an extension this summer. If there’s any hesitation, the off-season will dramatically change. Imagine a market where teams are talking to the Pens about Crosby. It’s hard to envision him in another jersey.

What’s sadder is that you can only see Crosby if you have tickets to tomorrow’s game on April Fool’s Day. That in itself is foolish. Even if he isn’t playing, it’s the Pens. A rival that got the better of the Rangers during the 90s.

There’s still a lot of disdain for Mario Lemieux due to what he pulled during the 1992 Patrick Division Finals to get Graves suspended for the rest of the series. He was the biggest whiner.

The 1991-92 Rangers had more talent than the 1993-94 team that won. Had they advanced past the Pens, they might’ve won the Cup that year. A lot of young talent like Tony Amonte and Doug Weight might’ve stayed. We’ll never know what would’ve happened.

Instead, Mike Keenan came in, and Neil Smith sacrificed a lot of players to win that one Cup. That hurt the future of the franchise.

When looking at what’s wrong with the schedule, it’s the lack of divisional games. If they play 82, then teams should play their division more than four times. The Rangers play the Penguins three times. That’s not enough. There’s eight teams in each division. That means they can play the other seven teams. If it was even four per opponent, that’s only 28 games – leaving a ridiculous 54 games for outside the division.

In some cases, they’re playing the other division inside the conference just as much as their own division. Case in point. The Rangers will have faced the Panthers as many times as the Penguins. It’s three games against the Atlantic. That comes out to 24 games because it’s eight teams.

I understand why players are in favor of seeing the other conference. But it doesn’t have to be twice. They could reduce that part by alternating who plays at home for each season. It’s still 16 teams. Currently, you play the opposite conference 32 times. That’s more than your own division. It makes no sense.

A simple fix would be to make increase the number of divisional games. If they went to six, that would total 42 games. That would still leave 40 remaining games to face the other divisions. They could still play teams in the opposite conference once. Forty-two plus 24 equals 66. That would leave exactly 16 games.

Metropolitan Division

7 opponents ×6 = 42

Atlantic Division

8 opponents ×3 = 24

Central Division

8 opponents ×1 = 8

Pacific Division

8 opponents ×1 = 8

Total                     82

There’s no reason there can’t be more games inside the division. The Rangers shouldn’t go the first half without seeing the Islanders. By limiting the schedule, that takes away some of the juice from rivalries. There are hardly any classic home and home series anymore. It shouldn’t be.

If they played more divisional games, that would add more importance to getting points. We’re talking about three or four-point games. If you lose in regulation to a rival, it becomes magnified.

Why isn’t there another game against the Hurricanes? The Rangers only faced them three times, with the most recent meeting a playoff caliber game that they won 1-0 on Mar. 12. There should be. Carolina is still fighting for the division. They are  three points out with seven games left. The Rangers have eight remaining.

Hopefully, the league and players will recognize the importance of having more rivalry games. Without it, it hurts the regular season.