The Rangers kept the Garden humming again, and the numbers behind the win keep piling up.
New York has now opened the season with six straight home victories, matching the longest such run in the league this season and tying the second-longest home-start streak in franchise history. It’s also the first time a Rangers team has done that since the 1990-91 season.
That early comfort at home has shown up all over the box score. The Rangers lead the league with seven wins this season when they score first, and they’re tied for second in the league with seven wins and 15 points overall. At home, they sit alone at the top in both categories with six wins and 12 points.
The start mattered again tonight. Sean Durzi scored 1:18 into the contest, and that pushed the Rangers into some rare company: they’ve now scored within the opening two minutes in three straight home games, something they had only done once before in franchise history, during a three-game stretch from Mar. 15-22, 1989.
The offense didn’t slow down after that. New York has scored at least five goals in four games this season, tied for the second-most in the league, and it has scored four or more goals in all six home games so far - the longest such streak in the league and the first time the Rangers have done it since the 1991-92 season. Eleven different Rangers picked up at least one point in the game.
The special teams were sharp too. The Rangers finished 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and have now gone 32-for-34 this season. They’ve put together six straight perfect penalty-kill games and rank second in the league with a 94.1 penalty kill percentage.
Dylan Garand picked up his fourth win of the season, improving to 4-1-1 in six starts. His four victories are tied for sixth in the NHL, and among goaltenders with at least five starts, his .929 save percentage ranks fifth.
Adam Fox kept rolling at home, extending his point streak at Madison Square Garden to six games with eight assists over that span, the longest active streak in the league. Dating back to last season, he has now recorded at least one point in 13 straight home games - 4 goals and 17 assists - the longest home stretch of his career.
His assist on J.T. Miller’s power-play goal also made him the fourth Rangers defenseman to reach 10 assists in fewer than 12 games multiple times, after doing it in 11 games in 2021-22.
Oliver Bjorkstrand posted his second multi-goal game of the season and the 23rd of his career. He’s one of two Rangers this season with multiple multi-goal games.
Alexis Lafrenière added his fourth power-play point of the season with the assist on Miller’s goal, extending his home point streak to five games with 6 goals and 5 assists. He has at least one point in seven of his last eight games, totaling 7 goals and 6 assists, and leads the Blueshirts with 13 points.
Mika Zibanejad also stayed hot at the Garden, extending his home point streak to six games with 2 goals and 7 assists, tying the longest active streak in the NHL. He is now two points shy of matching Walt Tkaczuk for the sixth-most points in team history at 678.
In Other News...
Rangers Suddenly Have A Tye Kartye Decision They Didn't Expect
Tye Kartye arrived in New York as a waiver claim from Seattle, the kind of low-risk pickup teams make to deepen a roster and see if a hard-working winger can carve out a niche. Instead, the undrafted left winger has quickly turned into much more than depth, earning trust with the Rangers for the way he competes, handles his defensive responsibilities and helps steady the kind of line that can tilt a game.
What makes the situation interesting is how quickly Kartye has moved from hopeful addition to someone the staff has to keep in a meaningful role. His fit with the clubs top offensive players has already changed the conversation around what the Rangers thought they were getting, and now the bigger question is whether this early stretch is a real sign of staying power or simply the latest surprise in a season that is still taking shape. [Read more 🡒]
Sean Durzi Solves One Rangers Need While Exposing Another
Sean Durzi has already given the Rangers what they hoped to get when they brought him in over the summer: a steadier blue line and a presence that seems to fit naturally in the room. The comparison to Vincent Trocheck is obvious enough for anyone around the team. Both are similar in build, both play with a similar edge, and both come with the kind of workmanlike reputation that tends to travel well in New York. Durzi has also brought a little of the same personality and energy that made Trocheck so useful to the Rangers beyond the stat sheet.
What the move has also done, though, is shine a brighter light on the other side of the ledger. Trochecks departure left a hole down the middle, and the Rangers are feeling the effects in their center depth as the season goes along. Durzis past injury history is part of the broader picture too, because the Rangers know the upside is real but the margin for error is thin when a player has had to battle through health issues before. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Hot Start Still Hasnt Solved One Bigger Problem
The Rangers strong start has done plenty to build optimism in New York, but it has not yet changed the way star players view the organization when bigger decisions come up. Dylan Larkin has reportedly widened his trade wishlist from three teams to 10, and the club on Broadway still is not on it, a reminder that early-season momentum does not automatically make a team a destination for elite talent.
The latest list apparently does include several familiar Eastern Conference names, with the Hurricanes, Devils and Capitals among the teams Larkin is open to. For the Rangers, that leaves a familiar kind of frustration: they can look like a contender on the ice and still find themselves on the outside when the leagues top names start narrowing their options. [Read more 🡒]