If you’re wondering whether these final 15 games have meaning for the Rangers, check on Kevin Shattenkirk, the defenseman who is essentially fighting to save his career in New York.
Too dramatic a scenario? Not really, for if the 30-year-old defenseman does not markedly improve his play this final month, management will have no other choice than to seriously consider a buyout of No. 22’s contract halfway through its four-year term.
Nobody wants that.
Shattenkirk was reinstated for Saturday night’s Garden match against the bottom-dwelling, injury-decimated Devils after sitting out Thursday’s 3-2 shootout defeat in Detroit as a healthy scratch.