The New York Rangers’ early cushion is shrinking fast.
A 7-5-1 record still leaves them in second place in the Metropolitan Division, but the momentum has clearly shifted the wrong way. They’ve dropped two straight, both on the road, and their 1-5-1 mark away from Madison Square Garden is dragging down what once looked like a scorching start.
One of the biggest reasons for that slide is the situation in goal. Igor Shesterkin went down with a season-ending injury in the Rangers’ sixth game, and Dylan Garand has had to carry the load ever since.
For the most part, he’s held up better than expected. Garand is 4-4-1 with a 2.30 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage, numbers that would normally buy a young goalie plenty of credit.
But the last two outings have been rough. He has given up five goals in each of his last two starts, and fatigue appears to be setting in.
Against the Ottawa Senators, he made his seventh straight start, which is a heavy ask for a rookie. The Rangers are now in a spot where they may need another goalie sooner rather than later, especially with Joonas Korpisalo still a few weeks away.
Garand has done solid work, but he is not Shesterkin, and that gap is showing.
The road issues have only made things worse. At home, the Rangers have been perfect so far at 6-0-0, a huge step forward from where they were last season on home ice.
On the road, though, it’s been a different team entirely. Their lone win away from home came against the Detroit Red Wings in the first week of the season, and since then the losses have kept stacking up.
That kind of split is a problem. Winning just one of every six road games is not the profile of a team that wants to stay in the playoff race.
Even when the Rangers play hard and keep things close, they have not found ways to leave with points. Too often, they start slowly and look sloppy away from home, which is the opposite of how they’ve played at Madison Square Garden, where they come out fast and seize control early.
The scoring from the highest-paid forwards has also been underwhelming. Pavel Dorofeyev, J.T.
Miller, and Mika Zibanejad - the team’s top three cap hits - have combined for only nine goals through 13 games. That’s not enough from the players expected to drive the offense, especially Dorofeyev.
The struggles have shown up at five-on-five and on the power play, where the Rangers have not looked nearly as dangerous as they did last season.
That unit was top five in the NHL a year ago. Right now, it sits 20th, and that drop matters for a team that has leaned on special teams to win games. Oliver Bjorkstrand leading the club with five goals only underscores the issue.
The Rangers have one game left before a five-day break, and it comes at home against the Los Angeles Kings. They need that one badly if they want to head into the pause on a positive note.
The time off would also give Garand a chance to rest and give management a window to possibly add another goalie. The hot start still gave this team a buffer, but that buffer is disappearing quickly.
In Other News...
Wolf Pack Let Another Winnable Road Game Slip Away
The Hartford Wolf Pack had another road game within reach before it slipped away in a 3-2 loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in AHL play. Glenn Gawdin and Juuso Prssinen scored for Hartford, while Finn Harding and Tristan Broz also found the net for the Penguins in a game that stayed tight enough for the Wolf Pack to believe they could leave with points.
Prssinens goal gave Hartford a late push and kept the pressure on until the final minutes, but the finish went the other way and left the Wolf Pack still searching for a clean result away from home. They will stay on the road for their next game against the Hamilton Hammers, with the chance to turn a missed opportunity into momentum before the trip gets any longer. [Read more 🡒]
Alexis Lafreniere Is Carrying The Rangers At The Worst Possible Time
The Rangers have spent the last week learning how thin the margin can get when the goals are going in but the structure is not. Two straight high-scoring road losses in Toronto and Ottawa exposed the kind of defensive leaks that can undo even a productive night, and it has left New York leaning harder than ever on Alexis Lafrenire, who has been driving the offense at a career-best pace.
Lafrenires scoring streak has become one of the few steady things the Rangers can count on right now, which makes his surge feel even more important with the team trying to hold together its season through adversity. The problem is that individual offense can only cover so much ground, and with the current challenges around the roster, New York needs a lot more than one hot hand to stop the skid. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Home Stretch Could Expose A Problem They Can't Hide
The Rangers are getting a rare little test of patience this week, with two home games at Madison Square Garden separated by a five-day break. Los Angeles comes in Monday, Edmonton follows, and New York will try to lean on the advantage it has built at home while the schedule leaves plenty of time for the conversation around the roster to keep growing. Adam Fox has continued to drive play at a high level, but the broader picture has been harder to read with the teams uneven road form and the ripple effect of Igor Shesterkins injury still hanging over the lineup.
That uncertainty is especially pronounced in net, where rookie Dylan Garand has started seven straight games and given the Rangers a temporary answer, if not a permanent one. There is also interest around new signee James Reimer, who may be closer to the picture than some expected, and this home stretch could end up clarifying how much longer the club can keep patching things together. For a team trying to stay steady in the standings, these next two games are about more than just points. They may also expose how thin the margin has become. [Read more 🡒]