The Rangers return to Madison Square Garden on Monday night carrying a perfect home record and a few milestones with them.
New York will face the Kings for the first time this season at 7:00 PM ET, and the schedule sets the Blueshirts up for a stretch on their own ice - four straight games at home. Adam Fox will also reach a major benchmark, as he is set to skate in his 500th career NHL game.
The Rangers have been dominant in their building so far, going 6-0-0 and owning the league’s longest-active home winning streak. Another victory would push that run to seven straight at home to begin the season, which would be the second-longest such stretch in franchise history, behind only the 1990-91 team that opened with eight.
Their numbers at home are as strong as the record suggests. New York is tied for the league lead with six home wins, 12 points and a 1.67 goals-against average per game at home.
The Rangers’ 29 home goals are tied for second in the NHL, while their 10 goals allowed are tied for fourth-fewest. They’ve also reached four goals or more eight times already, matching the league lead.
The defensive work has been just as sharp. The Rangers rank second in the NHL with 340 hits, are tied for fifth with 193 blocked shots and sit tied for 10th with 52 takeaways.
They’ve killed off 36 of 39 penalties for a 92.3 percent success rate, good for a tie for second in the league. New York also leads the NHL with six wins when leading after the first period and is tied for the league lead with seven wins when scoring first.
In the opening frame, the Rangers are tied for third in the league with a plus-four goal differential.
They’ve also kept games under control at the back end. New York has allowed two or fewer goals eight times, tied for the league lead, and has four games in which it has given up one goal or fewer, tied for fourth. On top of that, Rangers defensemen have piled up 27 assists, which ranks third in the NHL, along with 30 points, tied for fifth.
Alexis Lafrenière continues to drive the offense. He has a point in three straight games, collecting two goals and two assists, and has produced at least one point in nine of his last 10 contests with nine goals and six assists over that stretch.
He is tied for fourth in the NHL with nine goals, leads the Rangers in goals and sits second on the club in points with 15. He also has four multi-point games, tied for the team lead.
Since the 2023-24 season, Lafrenière has scored 78 goals, which ranks third among Rangers skaters in that span. His 43 multi-point games over that period rank fifth on the team.
Fox has been just as central to the attack, and maybe even more productive from the blue line. Through his first 13 games, he has 16 assists, tying Jaromir Jagr for the most by a Ranger over that span in team history.
Fox’s 16 assists rank second in the NHL, while his 16 points are tied for second among all NHL defensemen. He leads the Rangers in assists and points and shares the team lead with four multi-point games.
He added more history on Oct. 24, when he recorded his 34th career multi-assist period and moved past Walt Tkaczuk for seventh in Rangers history. Two days earlier, on Oct.
22, Fox posted his fourth career four-point game, moving past Carol Vadnais for fourth-most in franchise history among Rangers defensemen. That same night, he became the third Rangers defenseman ever with three or more four-assist games and the seventh American-born defenseman in NHL history to do it.
He also has six points over his last two games, doing so for the fourth time in his career, with Brian Leetch the only other Rangers defenseman with more such instances.
Dylan Garand has given the Rangers steady work in goal. He has earned a point in five of his eight starts this season, going 4-3-1, and in eight of his 11 career NHL starts, where he is 6-3-2. Among goaltenders with at least three home starts this season, Garand ranks second with a .936 save percentage and is tied for third with a 1.67 goals-against average.
Mika Zibanejad has also been a consistent contributor, producing 11 points through 13 games on three goals and eight assists. He ranks second on the club in assists and third in points, and his four multi-point games are tied for the team lead.
He is tied for 11th in the NHL with 114 faceoff wins. On Oct.
22, Zibanejad tied Walt Tkaczuk for the sixth-most points in Rangers franchise history with 678.
J.T. Miller has settled in, too.
He has scored in two of his last three games and has posted at least one point in seven of his last 10, with three goals and six assists during that stretch. He is tied for third on the team in assists with six and ranks fourth in points with eight.
Miller’s 120 faceoff wins are tied for eighth in the league, and among players with at least 200 faceoffs this season, he ranks sixth with a 55.8 percent win rate. Since the 2024-25 season, his 59.3 percent faceoff win percentage is tied for fourth among skaters with at least 1,000 faceoffs.
The night also comes with plenty of familiar faces. Sean Durzi spent the first two seasons of his career with Los Angeles from 2021-22 to 2022-23, playing 136 games and recording 65 points. Vladislav Gavrikov spent parts of three seasons with the Kings from 2022-23 through 2024-25, totaling 62 points in 179 games.
Jonathan Quick, now the Rangers’ Director of Goaltending, spent parts of 16 seasons with Los Angeles and finished with a 370-275-82 record in 731 starts, a .911 save percentage and a 2.46 goals-against average. He won two Stanley Cups with the Kings and was a Vezina Trophy finalist twice, in 2011-12 and 2015-16, while also being part of a William M. Jennings Trophy-winning duo in 2013-14 and 2017-18.
On the other side, Kings coach Peter Laviolette has a long Rangers connection of his own, having served as New York’s head coach for two seasons from 2023-24 to 2024-25. He also played 12 games for the Blueshirts in 1988-89. Erik Gustafsson appeared in 76 games for the Rangers during the 2023-24 season, posting six goals and 25 assists for 31 points.
Los Angeles also has former Rangers of its own in Artemi Panarin, Mats Zuccarello and President Luc Robitaille. Panarin played 482 games across seven seasons with the Rangers and put up 607 points, including 205 goals and 402 assists, ranking eighth in franchise history in assists.
Zuccarello spent parts of nine seasons in New York and totaled 352 points, while serving as alternate captain for two seasons. Robitaille played two seasons for the Rangers in 1995-96 and 1996-97.
In Other News...
Rangers $11 Million Winger Already Facing A Tough Reality Check
Pavel Dorofeyevs start has already become a talking point for the Rangers, who brought him in with the expectation that an expensive winger would add finishing punch to the lineup. Even with some encouraging underlying offensive numbers and a healthy share of high-danger looks, the production has not matched the role, and the early returns have left management and the coaching staff looking for more from a player signed to make a real impact.
The most telling sign came during the game against Ottawa, when the Rangers shuffled their lines after falling behind and Dorofeyev was shifted down the lineup. It was a clear reminder that strong shot metrics only go so far if the goals do not follow, and with just three goals in 13 games, the pressure is already building for him to turn chances into results before the conversation around his place in the lineup gets any louder. [Read more 🡒]
Laviolettes MSG Return Reopens A Rangers Collapse Fans Havent Forgotten
Peter Laviolette is back at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, only now he is standing behind the bench for the Los Angeles Kings instead of the Rangers. It is his first visit to MSG as an opposing coach since New York fired him in April, a turn that naturally sends attention back to a stretch that began with promise and ended far short of the standard the organization had set.
Laviolette had guided the Rangers to the Presidents Trophy and a slate of franchise records in 2023-24, then watched the follow-up season unravel into a disappointment that changed the tenor of his tenure almost overnight. One of the NHLs most seasoned coaches, with seven teams on his resume since 2001-02 and the most wins by a U.S.-born coach, he now returns to a building where the memory of that collapse still lingers, even if the next chapter of the story remains unfinished. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Send A Clear Message With Tonights Lineup Shuffle
The Rangers are changing things up at both ends of the ice tonight, reshuffling three line combinations and turning to veteran goalie James Reimer against the Kings. Signed to a one-year contract, Reimer gets the start in his Rangers debut after Dylan Garand handled the crease for seven straight games in the wake of Igor Shesterkins injury, a clear sign the club is looking for a different look as it tries to steady things.
There is another familiar face on the opposite bench, too, with former Rangers coach Peter Laviolette back at Madison Square Garden leading Los Angeles. Between the lineup tweaks and the decision to hand Reimer the net, this one feels like more than a routine regular-season adjustment, especially for a team still sorting through life without Shesterkin and trying to find the right mix in front of him. [Read more 🡒]