It’s barely November, but the Rangers are already staring at a week that feels bigger than it should.
New York comes in on a four-game losing streak, and the skid has dragged them to 7-7-1 after home losses to the Kings, 6-3, last Monday and the Oilers, 4-1, on Sunday. The pattern has been ugly: the Rangers never led in either game, gave up the first goal 1:15 into the loss to Los Angeles, and then surrendered one 50 seconds after the opening face-off against Edmonton.
That’s not just a bad weekend. It’s part of a 1-5-1 slide that has pushed the Rangers to fifth in the Metropolitan Division and 13th in the Eastern Conference as they head into a three-game week. They’ll host the Blues on Monday and the Flyers on Wednesday before heading out for their first major road trip of the season Saturday afternoon in Seattle.
The road numbers make the urgency obvious. New York is just 1-5-1 away from Madison Square Garden, so a quick turnaround matters. Another rough stretch could have them looking a lot too much like last season’s mess before Thanksgiving arrives.
Pavel Dorofeyev gave the Rangers their only goal Sunday and has now scored in two of his last three games. He also enters the week riding a five-game point streak.
At the other end, Dylan Garand’s strong start has faded fast. He took the loss against the Kings after James Reimer was pulled following the first period, then allowed three goals before the halfway point against Edmonton. The 24-year-old rookie has dropped four straight starts and is now 4-6-1, with his save percentage down to .897 in 11 appearances.
The week opens with a matchup against St. Louis, and that’s one of the few places where the Rangers found success last season.
They swept the two-game season series and beat the Blues 3-2 at the Garden on Nov. 24.
New York has won four of the last five meetings at home and owns a strong all-time mark against St. Louis, going 86-50-3 with 16 ties overall and 52-16-1 with six ties at Madison Square Garden.
J.T. Miller has been a problem for the Blues over the years, with eight goals and 19 points in 21 career games against them.
That includes the overtime winner in the Rangers’ 2-1 victory in St. Louis on Dec.
- That game also marked Gabe Perreault’s first NHL goal, with Will Cuylle picking up the assist.
Cuylle has three goals and five points in six games against St. Louis.
Dorofeyev, meanwhile, had five goals and nine points in nine games against the Blues when he was with the Vegas Golden Knights.
Philadelphia comes next, and the Flyers have had a rough opening month despite the noise around last spring’s playoff run. They were blasted 7-0 by Pittsburgh in their opener and finished October at 3-8-4, the worst record in the Eastern Conference, though they opened November with a 6-3 home win over Utah.
The Rangers handled Philadelphia pretty well last season, going 2-1-1 against their division rival and piling up 19 goals in those four games. Since the start of the 2022-23 season, New York has won 11 of 15 against the Flyers.
Mika Zibanejad has done his best work against Philadelphia, with 25 goals and 50 points versus the Flyers - both his highest totals against any opponent. He scored twice in the teams’ most recent meeting, a 6-2 Rangers win in Philadelphia on March 9.
This could also be a spot for coach Mike Sullivan to turn to Reimer, who is 11-4-3 lifetime against the Flyers with a 2.50 goals-against average and .914 save percentage. That said, Joonas Korpisalo may already be back from his foot infection, and Reimer could be back in the minors, which remains a real possibility given Korpisalo’s recent ramp up at practice.
Then comes Seattle, where the Rangers will begin a four-game swing through the Northwest and try to keep their success at Climate Pledge Arena going. New York is 4-0-1 in Seattle, including a 3-2 overtime win there last Nov.
- Overall, the Rangers are 7-2-1 against the Kraken and have outscored them 35-25 in those 10 games.
Kaapo Kakko, the No. 2 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft who was traded to Seattle in December 2024, has remained a useful middle-six forward with the Kraken. He finished October with two goals and 11 points in 14 games, tied for second on the team, while averaging 14:18 of ice time.
He also had an assist in the teams’ last meeting on Jan. 12 at Madison Square Garden, when Seattle erased an early two-goal deficit and won 4-2. Eeli Tolvanen, who signed with the Rangers as a free agent in September, scored the Kraken’s first goal in that comeback.
Seattle went 8-5-1 in October despite scoring and allowing 52 goals. The Kraken also traded young center Shane Wright to the Nashville Predators on Sunday, and they’ve leaned on shootout wins and late-game escapes, including a 5-4 victory over Toronto on Oct. 28 when they tied the game with 1:30 left in regulation and won it with 33 seconds remaining.
In Other News...
Rangers Are Stuck With A Painful Goalie Reality Right Now
The Rangers current goalie situation got a little tougher Tuesday night in a 4-1 loss to the Oilers, their fourth straight defeat, and it came with Dylan Garand once again in the spotlight. With Igor Shesterkin and Joonas Korpisalo both sidelined by injuries, Garand has been pressed into starting duty, a difficult assignment for a young goaltender trying to hold things together while the team searches for traction.
Garand had a rough opening stretch before settling in as the game wore on, which only added to the frustration of a night that never really turned in New Yorks favor. Mike Sullivan still sounded steady afterward, saying he believes Garand can rebound from the outing and stressing the confidence the staff has in him, a small but important vote of support as the Rangers try to navigate a painful stretch in net. [Read more 🡒]
Mike Sullivan Is Already Facing The Rangers Pressure Test
Mike Sullivan arrives behind the Rangers bench with the kind of expectations that come with this market, and he is stepping into a situation that has already been reshaped by Chris Drurys retool approach after a rough first season under Peter Laviolette. New York has spent the past year trying to steady itself, and the coaching change is only part of a larger effort to get the team back on track without pretending the pressure has gone anywhere.
The early signs have been mixed in the way Rangers seasons often are, with the club showing real improvement even after a major setback in goal and still hanging around the playoff race. Sullivan has already had to adjust to the pace and scrutiny that come with coaching in New York, where progress is measured quickly and patience is always in short supply. What matters now is whether he can keep this group moving in the right direction as the margin for error keeps shrinking. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Offseason Splash Is Raising A Bigger Concern Than Scoring
The Rangers went into the offseason looking for more punch, and Pavel Dorofeyev was supposed to be part of that answer. New York expected him to help tilt the offense with goals, but his start has been uneven enough to reopen a familiar debate about how the roster was built and whether the front office chased scoring before shoring up a more vulnerable area.
The concern is not just what Dorofeyev does on the wing, but what happens if the middle of the ice gets stressed. The Rangers have enough talent to keep scoring chances coming, yet the center depth already feels like a spot that could get thin fast if injuries hit, and that is the kind of roster question that can linger long after the early-season goal totals are forgotten. [Read more 🡒]