The New York Rangers are heading back to Madison Square Garden with a chance to reset the tone after a flat start to the 2026-27 NHL regular season.
Their opener didn’t bring the response they wanted. New York fell 3-0 on the road to the Boston Bruins, and now the attention shifts to home ice, where the Rangers will open at MSG against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
That’s a spot the Rangers badly need to take advantage of. Last season’s home start was a mess, with New York dropping its first seven games at Madison Square Garden before finally getting a win on Nov. 10 against the Nashville Predators. Scoring was a real problem during that stretch, with the Rangers being shut out five times in those first seven home games.
Tampa Bay, though, has been a favorable matchup for New York lately. MSG has not been an easy building for the Lightning, and the Rangers have picked up at least one point in seven of the last nine games against Tampa Bay at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
The broader trend has leaned the same way. In the last 18 meetings overall, New York has gotten at least one point in 13 of them and has won 11 times.
Last season’s series showed that balance clearly. The Rangers took two of three from the Lightning, starting with a 7-3 road win at Benchmark International Arena in the first meeting of the year. Tampa Bay answered in the second game, winning 4-1 at MSG, before New York closed the season series with a 4-2 victory in the regular season finale.
What stands out even more is that this success has come against a team that has been in the postseason year after year. Tampa Bay has reached the playoffs in nine straight seasons and has won two Stanley Cup titles.
New York’s recent track record is a different story. The Rangers won the Presidents’ Cup in 2023-24 and reached the Eastern Conference Finals, but they have not made the playoffs in the last two years and finished last in the Eastern Conference this past season.
So while the overall picture around the Rangers has been uneven, the Lightning have been one opponent they’ve handled well. If New York wants to avoid another slow home start, this is the kind of matchup that can help change the script.
In Other News...
Victor Hedmans Opening Night Role Says A Lot About Tampa Bay
Victor Hedman is set to return for the Lightnings regular-season opener in a noticeably different role, one that reflects both where Tampa Bay is right now and where its longtime defense anchor has been over the past year. After a season limited to a career-low 33 games because of injuries and a personal leave for mental health, Hedman is back in the lineup as the team eases him into the schedule while keeping an eye on the long haul.
Jon Cooper has already mapped out some of the opening-night usage around him, with Hedman expected to help on the penalty kill while others handle the top power-play assignments. It is a reminder that Tampa Bay is not simply plugging veterans back in and hoping for the best, but trying to manage minutes carefully as it opens another season with real expectations and a few lineup decisions that signal how the coach wants this group to look from the start. [Read more 🡒]
Lightning Open The Season With Two Big Questions To Answer
Opening night at Madison Square Garden gives the Lightning an immediate test as they start the 2026-27 season against the Rangers, and the early focus is less on style points than on whether this group can avoid the sluggish start that dug too deep a hole a year ago. Tampa Bay has spent enough time as a contender to know October matters, and the margin for error only gets thinner when the calendar flips before the team has settled into rhythm.
Conor Geekie is part of that conversation after forcing his way onto the opening-night roster with a preseason that turned heads, while the depth chart behind Andrei Vasilevskiy has also shifted with Dennis Hildeby stepping in as the new backup after Jonas Johansson's departure. The Lightning do not need both questions answered immediately, but they do need clarity quickly, and how those pieces fit could go a long way toward shaping the tone of the first month. [Read more 🡒]
Lightning Fans Can Probably Relax About Kucherov's Contract Cloud
Nikita Kucherov is heading into the final season of his current deal with the Lightning, and the lack of an extension has naturally created some chatter around a franchise player who remains central to Tampa Bays identity. Even so, the backdrop around this situation is more reassuring than alarming, especially with the teams salary cap picture improving as it looks ahead to the next round of business.
TSNs Pierre LeBrun reported that the odds of Kucherov leaving are low, which is the kind of update Lightning fans wanted to hear while the contract clock ticks. There is still no finished extension in place, but the expectation around the situation is that it will ultimately get done once the season runs its course and Tampa Bay gets to work with a little more financial flexibility. [Read more 🡒]