Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

1. If you had told me before the season began that through less than the first month the Rangers would briefly lose Ryan Lindgren to injury, put Adam Fox on long-term injured reserve and a goal-less Filip Chytil on injured reserve, Igor Shesterkin would only play in eight games to date (and get pulled in one) and get injured, his backup would get injured, the team would be on their third goalie, Mika Zibanejad would have two goals, and the Rangers would have lost games to the Blue Jackets and Predators and blown a three-goal lead to the Wild, I would have asked you how many more losses they have compiled. Instead the Rangers are 8-2-1 through 13 games, and after their 4-1 win over the Wild on Thursday, they have won eight of their last nine.

2. Five nights after blowing a three-goal lead to the Wild before losing 5-4 in a shootout, the Rangers got retribution for their collapse in Minnesota. They didn’t play a complete game, but they scored the first goal of the game, never trailed and got an amazing performance in net from Louis Domingue in his first game as a Ranger.

“When you’re older, you don’t build yourself up too high for a game like this,” Domingue said. “You just try to do your job.”

Domingue did his job and did it exceptionally well. he turned away 25 of the Wild’s 26 shots, limited to them just one goal in their dominant second period and helped ease the minds of Rangers fans nervous about the health of Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick.

3. “It’s not his first rodeo,” Peter Laviolette said of the 31-year-old Domingue playing for his seventh franchise. “He really stepped up big for us.”

It was the first NHL appearance for Domingue in more nearly 19 months. For the Rangers, it was the first time since 1989-90 they had three goalies record wins in the team’s first 13 games. It was the seventh time already this season the Rangers didn’t allow more than one goal in a game.

4. Domingue was able to get an early cushion to work with because just like they did in Minnesota five nights earlier, the Rangers got on the board early. An Erik Gustafsson-to-Alexis Lafreniere-to-Vincent Trocheck goal gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead just 3:56 into the game.

How good has Gustafsson been? It’s hard to believe he had to take a one-year, $825,000 offer from the Rangers in the offseason. Now with three goals and nine assists this season, he has made the absence of the irreplaceable Fox hurt a little less.

5. The Wild were finally able to break through against Domingue at 12:33 of the second period when Brandon Duhaime scored For much of he second, the game had a similar feeling to the Rangers’ loss in Minnesota. The Wild controlled play for the entirety of the second, taking the first eight shots of the period, leading 11-1 in shots with seven minutes to go in the period and finishing the period with a 15-3 edge.

6. The Rangers regrouped during the intermission and responded with another pretty goal from the Lafreniere-Trocheck-Panarin line to take a 2-1 lead. It was the second even-strength goal of the game for that line that has played extremely well together since the shuffle was made before the 5-3 win over Detroit. After the trio each produced an even-strength point against the Red Wings, they came back and did the same against the Wild.

“He’s doing most of the forechecks for us,” Panarin said of Lafreniere after the line’s first game together against the Detroit. “Nice to see young guy working for the old guys.”

7. With just over seven minutes to go, the Rangers received their first power play of the game, and the second unit extended the lead to 3-1 when Blake Wheeler banged home a rebound for his first goal as a Rangers.

Lafreniere assisted on the Wheeler goal for the first three-point game of his carer. With a goal and two assists in the win, Lafreniere now has five goals and four assists on the season (a 32-goal, 25-assist, 57-point pace). Everything about his game looks improved and the trust and belief Laviolette has instilled in him is paying off.

Panarin had another Panarin game, continuing his streak of recording at least one point in every game this season. The 1.38 points per game he produced during his first season with the Rangers was remarkable and it’s hard to believe he’s currently destroying those numbers with 1.69 points per game this season to date. He’s currently on pace for 139 points.

8. Through 13 games, the Rangers have three losses and each loss can be clearly defined. In Game 2, after coming off their most complete performance in at least a decade, they laid an egg on the road against last season’s last-place Blue Jackets. In Game 4, they no-showed at home against the inferior Predators before embarking on a five-game, 10-day West Coast/Western Canada road trip. In Game 11 in Minnesota, they held a 3-0 lead just 6:53 into the game, and then were thoroughly dominated for the rest of the game on their way to a three-goal lead collapse (though they did manage to earn a point). Other than that, it’s been all wins. Blowout wins, hard-fought wins, come-from-behind wins, wins they didn’t deserve, shutout wins, you name it, and the 2023-24 Rangers have done it already.

“It’s never one thing,” Laviolette said of the team’s ability to win in so many ways. “It’s probably a combination of a bunch of different things.”

9. I don’t think anyone thought the Rangers would get off to this kind of start. The kind of start that is nearing a place where they can play .500 for the remainder of the season and still reach the playoffs. As of now, if the Rangers won only half of their remaining schedule, they would finish with 96 points. The Panthers were the last team in the playoffs last season with 92 points.

“You can have objectives and what you think is necessary to be successful,” Laviolette said about winning. “If you can check off eight out of 10 of those objectives and you can do it consistently, you probably find yourself winning hockey games.”

10. That’s where the Rangers find themselves: winning hockey games. They are atop the Metropolitan Division, sitting five points ahead of Carolina with a game in hand on the Hurricanes.

On Sunday, before enjoying a six-day break, the Rangers have a chance to extend their division-topping lead at home against last-place Columbus. I expect this game to play out differently than the second game of the season when the Rangers fell to the Blue Jackets in Columbus.

Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

The Rangers kept their winning streak alive in their return home, but it came at a cost, as they lost their best player and also a top-six center on Thursday.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Rangers.

1. After beating up on the Western Conference for two weeks on the West Coast (Seattle) and in Western Canada (Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg) and setting a franchise record for undefeated length of a road trip, the Rangers returned to the Garden on Thursday for their first true test of the season: Carolina. The odds-on favorite to not only win the Eastern Conference this season, but to win it all, the Hurricanes arrived in New York one win and two points behind the Rangers in the Met.

2. It didn’t take long for the Rangers to get on the board in this one as a too many men penalty on the Hurricanes just 1:38 into the game put the Rangers’ dynamic power play on the ice. A little over a minute into the man-advantage, Artemi Panarin carried the puck up the ice and dished it off to Vincent Trocheck just before entering the offensive zone. Upon entering the zone, Trocheck immediately had the puck knocked away, but it was knocked away directly to Panarin, who was now in the right corner. Panarin one-timed a backhanded pass from the corner all the way through the crease where Chris Kreider was waiting alone to bang it in. 1-0 Rangers.

2. The pass from Panarin may have seemed like nothing other than a perfectly-placed feed for Kreider, but the degree of difficulty was enormous. To put that much strength behind the puck on the backhand, get it from the corner through the front of the net and keep it accurate is silly. Less than two minutes into the game and Panarin had his season-long point streak extended.

3. For the first nine minutes of the first period, the Rangers controlled the play. They had little trouble getting through the Hurricanes’ neutral zone defense and managed to create some high-quality scoring chances, while the Hurricanes were held shotless. But when the Rangers got called for their own too many men penalty, the Hurricanes evened the game.

4. Tony DeAngelo began the power-play rush to a heartwarming chorus of Garden boos and passed the puck off to Sebastian Aho. Aho found a streaking Seth Jarvis with a blue line-to-blue line pass, and Jarvis split a flat-footed Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren, went in all alone and finished with a quick shot over Igor Shesterkin’s glove. 1-1.

5. Later in the first, Adam Fox had a lane down the middle of the ice in the offensive zone to potentially receive a pass for an undefended shot in the slot. Before he could make his way toward the net, Aho, realizing he was out of position to defend Fox, stuck out his right leg and caused a knee-on-knee collision. The play went uncalled by the officials, and after trying to continue to play, Fox went down the tunnel and didn’t return to the game.

“I went in and looked at it after the period,” Peter Laviolette said. “Especially from the overhead, I didn’t like the hit.”

At best, it was clear interference on Aho that resulted in the Rangers’ most important player leaving the game in the first period with a “lower-body injury.” At worst, it was a dirty, disgusting play by Aho that could leave the Rangers without their most important player indefinitely.

6. Fox wouldn’t be the only Ranger to exit the game with an injury. After a first-period collision that looked like nothing other than Chytil awkwardly losing a glove on the hit, he would eventually leave the game as well. His injury is being called “upper-body” and after the Ranger announced they were recalling Johnny Brodzinski early on Friday, it looks as though Chytil will be missing some time.

Chytil has yet to find the back of the net this season, but he has been playing well, creating scoring changes and setting up his teammates (six assists in 10 games). Injuries are always a problem for the cetnerr though, and his career injury log is as long as a CVS receipt.

Undisclosed
Upper
Lower
Upper
Upper
Undisclosed
Lower
Lower
Upper
Undisclosed
Concussion
Lower
Upper
Upper

That’s 14 documented injuries since April 2019. Again, the hit that caused him to leave Thursday’s game looked like nothing at the time and still doesn’t when you watch it back. So maybe he will miss nothing more than a couple of games?

“Chytil and Foxy are really important players for us,” Shesterkin said. “Hopefully everything will be good.”

Yes, hopefully everything will be good. Hopefully Fox’s removal from the game was cautionary and he’s fine now and can return to play unscathed on Saturday. The Rangers are limited in depth as is, and there’s no replacing Fox.

7. From the nine-minute mark in the first until halfway through the third, the Hurricanes took over. The Rangers had trouble generating offense, the Hurricanes began to successfully clog and defend the neutral zone and any Rangers entry was immediately met with a turnover or loss of possession.

“Between periods, I thought we needed more bite in our game,” Laviolette said. “You kind of start to see the buildup back in the third period and go back out there and continue to push on. I really liked our response.”

8. With just over nine minutes left in regulation and the scored tied at 1, Jacob Trouba lost control of the puck at the right point. He was able to regain control and skate around Jarvis and eventually make his way to the right corner untouched when DeAngelo decided to skate past him and defend no one behind the net. Trouba picked his head up and found Will Cuylle gliding toward the front of the net. Trouba fed Cuylle and Cuylle deflected it in.

“I like his straight-ahead speed. I Like his physicality,” Laviolette said of Cuylle. “A big goal at the right time in the third period.”

9. The Rangers hung on for the final 9:39 for a 2-1 win, their sixth straight. Clear Sight Analytics Hockey had the Hurricanes beating the Rangers in expected goals 2.97 to 2.58 and outchancing them 27-22, so it was once again another big performance in net for the Rangers. The win increased the separation between the Rangers and Hurricanes to four points in the standings.

10. Next up is a game in Minnesota on Saturday. (Wouldn’t it have made sense for the Rangers to go from Winnipeg to Minnesota and then return home to play Carolina, rather than go from Winnipeg to New York to Minnesota?) After the oddly scheduled one-game trip outside the time zone this weekend, the Rangers won’t play a game outside the Greater New York City area for more than two weeks.

The Wild are off to a shaky start (3-5-2), but always seem to play the Rangers well, and the trio of Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek are all averaging a point per game this season. It will be a challenging test for the Rangers to extended their winning streak to seven straight. Let’s hope Fox is there to take it with them.

Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

After alternating wins and losses through the first five games of the season, the Rangers have now won back-to-back games for the first time this season.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Rangers.

1. It’s rare when anything good comes from a Rangers West Coast or Western Canada road trip, but after beating the Kraken 4-1 in Seattle on Saturday, the Rangers followed that victory with a 3-1 win over the Flames in Calgary on Tuesday. It was their first win in Calgary in nearly six years (Mar. 2, 2018).

“I kind of thought of that coming in,” Chris Kreider said. “I didn’t want to say it out loud, but it’s been rough sledding for us.”

2. It looked like the winless streak on the road against the Flames may continue early on. After being pulled in his most recent start last Thursday against Nashville, Igor Shesterkin was beat from right slot by Blake Coleman just 75 seconds into this one. A turnover in the neutral zone by Filip Chytil gave the Flames possession, and then a poor defensive decision by Chytil to join Adam Fox below the goal line in pursuit of the puck allowed Coleman to become wide open in the slot. But following the early goal, Shesterkin was perfect for the remainder of the game, shutting out the Flames for the remaining 58:45, and turning away 23 of 24 shots overall.

3. The first period was a slog. The Rangers had just three shots in the first 14 minutes and it wasn’t until the last five minutes of the period that they started to generate offense. Still looking for his first goal of the season, Mika Zibanejad missed the net on a breakaway, and seconds later got stopped by Jacob Markstrom on a 2-on-0 with Kreider below the hashmarks. Chytil had a contested breakaway chance that he was unable to convert with 10 seconds left in the period, and just before time expired, Braden Schneider hit the post.

The Rangers were able to build off their play near the end of first period for almost the entirety of the second period. The second period ending up being the only period the Rangers they played a complete, 200-foot game, and unsurprisingly, it was the one period they did all their scoring in.

4. The Flames entered the game having killed off 21 of 22 power plays this season, but their 95 percent success rate took a dip thanks to the Rangers’ first and second power-play units.

On their first power play of the game, it was the second unit that got the Rangers on the board and tied the game at 1 at 7:38 in the second. Kaapo Kakko was able to keep the puck in the zone on a failed clear attempt by Elias Lindholm, and as a result of Kakko’s play at the left blue line, the second unit was eventually able to set up on the opposite side. Alexis Lafreniere passed it off to Chytil who went to Erik Gustafsson at the point with it. Gustafsson threw a shot into traffic and Lafreniere, who had worked his way down low, deflected Gustafsson’s shot for his third goal of the season.

“We work a lot in practices at trying to get a stick on it, and we have really good (defensemen) who can find lanes,” Lafreniere said. “If you can get to the front, things will happen.”

5. Lafreniere is currently on pace for a 41-goal season. It’s unlikely he will keep that pace up, but for a player who has averaged .20 goals per game in his 216-game career, the early-season total is exciting. League history has endless examples of high first-round picks who found their game for good in their fourth season, and you don’t have to look any farther than Zibanejad for comparison. Zibanejad was the sixth overall pick in 2011, and it wasn’t until his fourth season in the league when he put together his first 20-goal campaign after a 16-goal campaign in his third season. Lafreniere’s third-season goal total? 16.

6. About five minutes of play later, the Rangers got their second power play of the night. Peter Laviolette opted to start the man-advantage with the second unit, but this time it would be the first unit that would come through. With 10 seconds left on the power play, Artemi Panarin, holding the puck at the top of the zone, fed Kreider the perfect pass at the goal line to deflect by Markstrom to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. The power-play goal was the Rangers’ sixth in six games, as Panarin kept his every-game-of-the-season point streak alive.

7. Less than three minutes later, on a 4-on-4, Chytil weaved his way through the offensive zone and ripped a shot from the top of the circles on goal. Markstrom squeezed his pads together, but the puck squeaked through his legs. Much like Kakko’s goal against Phillip Grubauer in Seattle, Gustafsson skated in and banged in the loose puck in the crease to make it 3-1.

8. The third period was played much like the first: a slog.

“I don’t think that we were full tilt tonight,” Laviolette said. “I thought we defended too much.”

The Rangers produced just one shot on goal in the first 10 minutes of the third, couldn’t generate any real scoring chances or create sustained pressure. They seemed content with running out the clock on their two-goal lead much to the chagrin of their head coach.

“I’d rather not sit back and try to hang on to that 3-1 lead,” Laviolette said. “I’d rather go down and press on the forecheck and fire 25, 30 attempts and 15 shots on net. But that didn’t happen.”

It didn’t happen against the inferior Flames, and it didn’t need to. Against a much better opponent, that kind of third period will likely get the Rangers in serious trouble. But with Shesterkin playing the way he did, showing up for one of three periods was enough. (Clear Sight Analytics Hockey had the Flames winning in expected goals 4.29 to 2.45.)

9. “We’re happy that we got the two points,” Chytil said, “but I think we set the bar a little higher than how we played tonight.”

The standard of play for the Rangers this season remains opening night in Buffalo, and it wouldn’t be all that surprising if that level of effort and domination isn’t matched again by the Rangers this season. That’s how nearly flawless they were in that game. Their next-best game came in Seattle. The win over the Flames wasn’t to the level of either of those two games, but like Chytil said, they got two points nonetheless.

10. “Every game can’t be an ‘A-plus’ game,” Laviolette said. “You want it to be, and then if it’s not, you try to fix it and correct it, so it is an ‘A’ game.

The Rangers have played one ‘A-plus’ game this season (Buffalo) and one ‘A’ game (Seattle). Despite their at times inconsistent play, they have still managed to win four of six, including their first two on their season-long, five-game West Coast and Western Canada road trip, proving even their ‘B’ or ‘C’ game is enough to get two points. It would be less stressful if every game were an ‘A’ or ‘A-plus’ effort, especially if one of those games were to happen in Edmonton on Thursday night.

Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

After a disappointing effort against Nashville in New York, the Rangers began their season-long, five-game road trip with their second-best effort of the season against in Seattle.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Rangers.

1. I used to love the oddity of a Rangers West Coast road trip and the unusual start times. Now with two toddlers that wake up just a few hours after the end of a West Coast game, not so much.

The late-night starts are bad enough, but to have to endure four of them in a row in the second week of the season makes it even worse. Then add in a lighting delay a minute into the first of these games, and you have the scene from Saturday night in Seattle.

Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena underwent a $1.15 billion renovation prior to the Kraken beginning play in the NHL, yet somehow all of that money couldn’t prevent a bank of lights from going out midgame. About a minute into play, the Rangers and Kraken were forced to sit around after a dim landscape fell over the Rangers’ zone. Following a lengthy delay, the game was resumed under the agreement the teams would switch sides halfway through each period, so each team would have to defend the dim zone an equal amount.

2. The Kraken scored the game’s opening goal on a Justin Schultz one-timer just before the teams were to switch sides for the first time (8:41). Jonathan Quick slid too far to his right on the Schultz blast, and whether the goal was a result of the lightning issue or just a mistimed slide by Quick, the Rangers trailed 1-0 and it began to feel like the bank of lights would regain their power just as the Kraken were supposed to defend the dim zone.

3. Thankfully, the lights didn’t regain their power prior to the switch (and didn’t regain their power for the entirety of the game), and Artemi Panarin tied the game at 1 at 12:15 in the first.

As the first man in the zone on the forecheck, Alexis Lafreniere created pressure on Vince Dunn below the goal line and Dunn hastily threw the puck up the boards where Filip Chytil was waiting. Chytil immediately found Panarin all alone on the opposite side of the zone, fed him the puck, and Panarin ripped it shortside past Philipp Grubauer.

4. Early in the second, Jacob Trouba was called for boarding for a hit on Andre Burakovsky. It was a late hit by Trouba, but wasn’t vicious. In the moment, it was hard to believe the relative lack of force of by Trouba on the hit could even knock over Burakovsky. The Kraken forward’s awkward fall led to him leaving the game. Burakovsky had to undergo surgery for whatever happened to him on the play that will keep him out six to eight weeks. What the surgery was on or for is unclear as his absence has always been labeled an upper-body injury in the NHL’s continued silly characterization of injuries.

5. With the Rangers attacking the lit zone in the first half of the second period, Mika Zibanejad cleanly won a draw in the right circle back straight back to K’Andre Miller, and Miller set up Trouba for a one-timer from he point. Trouba’s shot squeaked threw the legs of Grubauer, and Kaapo Kakko outmuscled Brian Dumoulin to get behind the Kraken defenseman and bang in the puck sitting behind Grubauer in the crease for a 2-1 lead.

A little less than five minutes later, Lafreniere forced another turnover at the goal line, passed it off to Chytil who skated elegantly around the right circle. Chytil weaved through Dumoulin and Jaden Schwartz and flicked a backhand pass to Lafreniere who had positioned himself in the slot after forcing the turnover. Lafreniere deflected the puck over the shoulder of Grubauer, and the Rangers had a 3-1 lead.

6. With the Rangers attacking the dim zone to begin the third, Miller skated the puck up the ice and went untouched through the neutral zone with the Kraken choosing to not put a stick or body on the Rangers defenseman. Miller crossed the blue line and gave the puck up to Chytil who then gave it to Panarin streaking down the middle. Chytil’s pass was deflected into the air, but Panarin was able to glove it down to the ice. The puck never settled, and yet, Panarin was able to snap the bouncing puck past Grubauer for his second of the game to give the Rangers a three-goal lead.

Both of Panarin’s goals came in the dim zone (as did three of the game’s five goals). As the Rangers’ most productive player this season, he now has three goals and four assists on the year, having produced at least one point in all five games.

“For me, I want it darker, so it’s harder for goalies,” Panarin said. “That’s why I scored two.”

7. Chytil hasn’t found the back oft he net through five games, but his play is noticeable and his game has taken another positive step from the player he was a year ago. His three assists were a career best in a single game as he led all Rangers forwards in ice time with 19:14. It was his quick decision making that led to the Rangers’ first and third goals, and his pass with a little luck that led to the fourth goal.

“We had a tough last game,” Chytil said. “We just had to bounce back and this was the best scenario for what could happen.”

8. Nearly halfway through the third, the game got chippy with Yanni Gourde finding himself tangled up with Chris Kreider in front of the Rangers’ bench in what resulted in matching roughing penalties. A little over a minute later, Vincent Trocheck dropped the gloves with Jared McCann off a faceoff. It was just Trocheck’s sixth career fight (third with the Rangers), but you wouldn’t have guessed it with the way he used and landed both rights and lefts on McCann.

9. “I liked the way we skated and competed right from the drop of the puck,” Peter Laviolette said of the 4-1 win. “Pretty consistent for 60 minutes.”

It was easily the Rangers’ best game played and best effort since opening night in Buffalo, which continues to be the standard for how their play is evaluated. 

The Rangers may only be 3-2 on the season, but in terms of expected goals, they have outplayed their opponent in every game except for the ugly, shockingly bad game against Nashville. Courtesy of Clear Sight Analytics Hockey, here is the expected goals total for each of the Rangers’ five games.

Rangers 3.50, Sabres 1.41

Rangers 3.38, Blue Jackets 3.13

Rangers 3.25, Coyotes 2.59

Predators 3.48, Rangers 1.29

Rangers 4.78, Kraken 1.31

10. Coming off a disappointing effort against the Nashville, I wasn’t sure which version of the Rangers would take the ice in Seattle. But knowing what Laviolette is capable of as a head coach and what the roster is capable of as a team, it seemed unlikely they would lay two eggs in a row.

“Five games on the road is a long time,” Kakko said. “First win feels good.”

One down and four to go for the season’s longest road trip, with all four remaining games in Western Canada. If the Rangers play in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg like they did in Seattle, the lengthy road trip won’t feel so long.

Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

The Rangers no-showed at home on Thursday against Nashville and lost 4-1. At 2-2, they now head out on their longest road trip of the season.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Rangers.

1. It’s hard to believe the Rangers team that played a near-flawless game in Buffalo last Thursday is the same Rangers team that played the Predators this Thursday. In a week’s time the Rangers went from looking like a team ready to take the next step in their quest for a championship to looking like a team that’s on their third head coach in four seasons for a reason.

“It was definitely our worst game of the season so far,” Jacob Trouba said. “We got outworked. We got out-battled. We got out-competed. We got beat.”

2. The Predators were playing an oddly scheduled, mid-week game in New York City sandwiched between four home games, and yet they never for a second of play looked like the visiting team that had the opportunity to explore everything the city has to offer the night before. Everything about the 4-1 loss was ugly, leaving nothing positive to take away from the fourth game and second loss of the season.

3. The Rangers were sloppy in all three zones, missing passes, overskating the puck and turning it over whenever pressured. Their defense lacked structure and organization, leading to costly mistakes and high-quality scoring chances for the Predators throughout the game.

“We gave up eight odd-man rushes and two breakaways,” Peter Laviolette said. “You’re just not going to find success unless you button that up.”

4. The first of those two breakaways gave the Predators a 2-0 lead when Cole Smith (who scored the Predators’ first goal on a rebound off a Tyson Barrie shot) hopped out of the penalty box to receive the gift of all gifts. A K’Andre Miller D-to-D saucer pass sauced right over Erik Gustafsson blade’s and landed on Smith’s tape, fleeing him for a breakaway opportunity that he successfully converted with 3:38 left in the first.

Just 3:22 into the second, the Predators extended their lead with a Ryan O’Reilly power-play goal, and 10 minutes later, they put the game away. Filip Forsberg carried the puck inside the Rangers’ zone, briefly fell to his knees, maintained possession, skated the puck to the right hash and blasted a slap shot over the left shoulder of Igor Shesterkin, ending Shesterkin’s night and essentially the game.

5. The remaining 26 minutes were nothing more than a formailty. There would be no Rangers Classic, game-of-the-year-type comeback. The only goal the Rangers were able to muster came on a 5-on-3 when an Adam Fox pass through the crease was deflected in by Ryan McDonagh. I can only imagine McDonagh was trying to pay homage to his former Rangers D partner Dan Girardi by inexplicably lying down in the crease to inadvertently score on his own goal. It was a beautiful tribute and one that likely conjured up some dark memories for Henrik Lundqvist.

6. Fox’s game on Thursday night summed up just how bad the Rangers were. Despite the fortunate, deflected goal, Fox had arguably the worst game of his career. He took two hooking penalties in the first 23 minutes of the game, misplayed the puck several times, couldn’t maintain his handle on the puck in the neutral zone on a 6-on-5 delayed penalty call and looked lost the entire night. Aspects of the game that come so easy to Fox, qualities that make him one of the best defensemen in the league vanished against the Predators and he spent the entire night fighting the play.

It’s not like Fox isn’t entitled to an off-night and it’s not as though he was even close to being the Rangers’ biggest issue in the loss, but it was startling to see him not be himself for an entire game. I guess if he were going to pick a night to play the way he did, he picked a good one, since the rest of the team played the same way.

7. Most offensive zone entries were met with a turnover, and in the rare instances when the Rangers were able to gain entry, their opportunities were one-and-done. There were no second chances and there wasn’t any sustained pressure for the entire game.

“Slow” would be the best way to summarize the Rangers’ effort. After the second period, Stephen Valiquette opined on MSG that he “anticipated the Rangers tonight looking like they did in Buffalo” and instead “It looks like they’re playing in quicksand a little bit.”

8. So far the Rangers have played four very different games. They have been at their absolute best (Buffalo), they have played well and lost (Columbus), they have played well and relied on their goaltending when they couldn’t find the back of the net (Arizona) and they have also not shown up (Nashville). As difficult as it is to remember a game in the last few seasons when the Rangers looked as good as they did against the Sabres, it’s equally as difficult to remember a game when they looked as bad as they did against the Predators.

9. This sporadic type of play was to be expected early in the season with a new head coach, a new system, a quarter of a new roster and new line combinations. The Buffalo game immediately set a standard for what the Rangers are capable of when everything goes right, but expecting that kind of game and effort each game was never realistic. Even still, I thought we may see it more nights than not.

That hasn’t happened. It doesn’t mean it won’t happen. It’s possible that version of this team (the very best version of this team) will be the team that takes the ice in Seattle on Saturday night. Given the way this team has historically played on the West Coast and in Western Canada, it’s not easy to envision.

10. About to embark on their longest road trip of the season, a five-game stretch in Seattle, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg, I think everyone expected a better all-around game for the home team that won’t play at home again until November 2. Rather than head out on the road on a high note, they leave having scored three goals in two home games, while committing 10 penalties. They leave with a 2-2 record against four teams that all missed the postseason a year ago, and will likely all miss it this season as well.

We know what the Rangers’ best looks like (Buffalo). We hopefully now know what their worst looks like (Nashville). Which version of the Rangers will show up on the West Coast and in Western Canada? I wish I knew.

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