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!