Following a weekend in which they split by shutting out the Blue Jackets and losing to the Oilers, the Rangers are clinging onto the second wild card by a thread. With a day off, they lead the Canadiens by a point, and the Blue Jackets by two points on St. Patrick’s Day.

After taking care of business on Saturday by defeating the slumping Blue Jackets 4-0 led by a pair of Artemi Panarin goals in Adam Fox’s return to the lineup, the Blueshirts lost a tough game to the Oilers, 3-1 on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden. It prevented them from putting some distance between the rest of the pack, which includes the Red Wings, Islanders, and Bruins. Detroit won yesterday to pull within two points. The Islanders and Bruins are four back. Despite winning four in a row, the Penguins remain a longshot sitting six out with 13 games left.

After falling behind on a Corey Perry power-play goal late in the first period due to K’Andre Miller taking the third straight penalty against the Oilers, the Rangers tied the game five minutes into the second period when Will Cuylle converted his 18th from Panarin and Vincent Trocheck on a play Braden Schneider helped set up. The leading candidate for the Steven McDonald Award has points in three straight games. Cuylle continues to improve in his second year. He’s up to 18 goals and 19 assists for 37 points with a plus-10 rating while playing in every game.  It’s been the play of the former 2020 second round pick that’s been a constant.

To their credit, they played a very responsible tight checking game to limit the high-powered Edmonton offense led by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. In fact, defense was the theme throughout the game. Both sides kept the chances to a minimum. The Rangers outshot the Oilers 8-6 in the second period.

With the game tied, the third was tightly contested. The Rangers opted to sit back to prevent the Oilers from getting much in transition. It was an understandable strategy employed by Peter Laviolette, with McDavid and Draisaitl dangerous due to their game-breaking speed. It worked for most of the game.

The Oilers went ahead when Viktor Arvidsson had his shot tick off Zac Jones’ stick past Igor Shesterkin upstairs. The play started when Brennan Othmann had a back pass off the boards that didn’t work. Arvidsson forced a turnover to start a quick transition with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. After Nugent-Hopkins gained the zone and moved the puck across for Arvidsson, he let go of a high wrist shot that beat Shesterkin to make it 2-1. It was a tough goal due to the puck changing direction.

Trailing by one, the Rangers desperately tried to tie the game. Their best chance came on the power play. With Jeff Skinner off for cross-checking Will Borgen, the top unit stayed on for the entirety of the five-on-four. But despite getting some good chances, they were unable to beat Stuart Skinner. J.T. Miller had a good look at a one-timer that went wide. His frustration was noticeable. He’s gone seven games without a goal. Miller has also taken some bad penalties. He’ll need to be better over the final 14 games for the Rangers to make the playoffs.

The failed opportunity on the power play turned out to be their last chance. The Oilers were committed defensively. Even with the Rangers applying forecheck pressure, they had a lot of their attempts blocked. The Oilers blocked 19 shots, with many coming in the deciding period. It was their attention to detail that earned them two points. Skinner turned aside seven shots en route to 22 saves on the night.

Another area that the Oilers did well was win crucial faceoffs. Although the battle in the dots was close with Edmonton holding a slight 24-23 advantage, they won the big ones.

That included McDavid beating Vincent Trocheck on a defensive draw that led to him taking a Nugent-Hopkins feed in transition and beating Shesterkin for his 25th to make it 3-1 with 3;25 remaining. He skated in and used K’Andre Miller as a screen to score his 25th goal. That made it nine consecutive seasons with at least 25 goals or more. If he can get five more, then it’ll be 30 or more since 2016-17. A once in a lifetime superstar, McDavid has 86 points in 61 games. He won’t get the Hart, which is between teammate Draisaitl (49-52-101), Nathan MacKinnon, and maybe Zach Werenski. That depends on if he can get the Blue Jackets into the playoffs.

Speaking of which, the Blue Jackets host the Devils on Monday night. If they win, they move past the Rangers back into the second wild card. Columbus enters play with two games at hand. Montreal also has two extra games left. That puts the Rangers at a disadvantage. They still hold the first tiebreaker with 30 regulation wins. None of the teams battling with them are close. If they finish the season in a tie for points, they’d get in.

The most important thing for the Blueshirts is to control what’s in front of them. They have the Flames on Tuesday and Maple Leafs on Thursday. Both are on home ice. Each is fighting for the postseason. Calgary trails Vancouver and surging St. Louis by two points. Toronto hasn’t played well lately. They are only four up on the red hot Senators for third in the Atlantic Division. The Leafs have 81 points with 16 games left. They’re still nine clear of the Rangers. But their recent struggles haven’t gone unnoticed.

Had they won last night, the Rangers could’ve pulled within four points of the Devils. New Jersey is trying to get in without Jack Hughes, Dougie Hamilton, and Jonas Siegenthaler. They had a three-game winning streak snapped on Saturday in a bad 7-3 loss to the Pens. The game against the Blue Jackets is a big one for both teams. Columbus is looking to end a three-game skid.

The race remains an intriguing one with a month left in the regular season. The amount of parity is why the Rangers can still squeak in. Their 33-29-6 record is mediocre. The teams they’re competing with aren’t any better. If only the NHL put more emphasis on winning in regulation. There isn’t enough value for regulation wins. The Rangers are six clear of the Red Wings and Islanders. Their 30 RW are seven more than the Canadiens and Blue Jackets. It’s an area the league needs to reconsider in the off-season.

Be that as it may, the Rangers remain inconsistent. They can put together a complete performance like the one at Columbus. Then, they can follow it up with a frustrating loss to Edmonton. It wasn’t as if they played badly. It was similar to the one-goal loss at Winnipeg. Defensively, they’ve played better to limit high danger chances. That’s how they must play.

However, the offense isn’t great. Outside of Panarin, who’s scored a lot lately, there isn’t one consistent performer. After a hot month, Mika Zibanejad has one point over his last three games. He continues to get chances. Playing with J.T. Miller has been good for him.

Alexis Lafreniere was recently moved onto that line. He scored a goal against the Blue Jackets but only had one shot last night. He’s looked more confident playing on his natural side. But they need him to produce. He’s been the biggest disappointment. Since the calendar year, Lafreniere has six goals. Dating back to Dec. 8, he only has totaled seven since. There’s still enough time for him to flip the script.

If there’s a frustrating aspect, both Matt Rempe and Brennan Othmann have been more noticeable during shifts. They play on the fourth line. Laviolette hardly used them in the third period, cutting down the rotation after his team fell behind. If Rempe and Othmann are creating chances, they shouldn’t sit. Laviolette needs to roll four lines. He should keep Jonny Brodzinski on the third line. He’s the better offensive player than Sam Carrick, who slid down to the fourth line. Brodzinski has a good shot.

The problem is that neither Brodzinski nor Carrick are third line centers, which hurts Chris Kreider, who’s looked lost in the shuffle. By loading up with Miller and Zibanejad on one line, it hurts the team. Maybe it’s time for Laviolette to move Zibanejad back to center. That would create more balance.

It doesn’t help matters that Zac Jones is struggling. He’s taken too many unnecessary penalties. Jones has remained in the lineup due to his skating and skill, which Laviolette suddenly favors over the size and strength of Calvin de Haan and Carson Soucy. If he were to make a change for tomorrow, it would be subbing de Haan in for Jones. De Haan is a good defensive defenseman. He became the odd man out following the Soucy acquisition. De Haan worked well with Jones. He could be the best option to play with Fox, who looks much better since returning over the weekend.

They aren’t breaking up Miller and Will Borgen. They have good chemistry as a shutdown pair. Urho Vaakanainen worked with Fox on Sunday night. That probably is too much of an ask. Even with a healthy Fox, the blue line remains problematic due to Chris Drury not supplying Fox with a real defense partner. Even if Laviolette changes his mind and decides to give either Soucy or De Haan a shot, there are no long-term solutions. It will have to be addressed in the off-season.

The Rangers continue to struggle on the power play, going 0-for-4 since Fox came back. They continue to misfire and look out of sync. Laviolette acknowledged that they practice it every chance they get. At some point, it has to click.