New York Rangers centennial season: 5 games to remember, 5 to forget
The New York Rangers’ Centennial season was not one their fans will remember fondly.
From an opening-night shutout loss in Mike Sullivan’s coaching debut with the Blueshirts to a last-place finish in the Eastern Conference, there were too few chances to celebrate in 2025-26 – and far too many (especially at Madison Square Garden) that left Rangers fans muttering to themselves.
General manager Chris Drury told fans in “Letter 2.0” in mid-January that the team was essentially throwing in the towel on the season and looking toward the future. He followed that by sending leading scorer Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings prior to the Olympic break — but opted not to deal veteran center Vincent Trocheck before the NHL Trade Deadline.
Here’s a look at five games Rangers fans can look back on with a smile during the long offseason – and five others they’ll try very hard to forget.
Five Rangers games to celebrate in 2025-26 …
Mika’s magnificence keeps Rangers perfect outdoors
No NHL team is as good when playing outdoors as the Rangers. That continued on Jan. 2, when they rode a record-setting night by Mika Zibanejad to a 5-1 win over the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in the NHL Winter Classic at Miami’s loanDepot Park.
Zibanejad opened the scoring 15:09 into the game with a power-play goal, made it 3-0 just 58 seconds into the second period with an even-strength tally, and completed the first Winter Classic hat trick with a short-handed empty-netter. Add in an assist on each of Panarin’s two goals and you get the first five-point outdoor game in NHL history.
The win improved the Rangers’ outdoor record to a perfect 6-0-0.
Trampling Tampa Bay
The Rangers have had incredible success against Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, whose next stop after he retires will be the Hockey Hall of Fame. “Vasy” won the Vezina Trophy in 2019, then helped the Lightning win the Stanley Cup in 2020 and again in 2021 (when he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP).
But the Rangers are one of the few teams that has his number – at least in the regular season. That continued on Nov. 12, when they lit him up at Benchmark International Arena. New York scored five times on 13 shots before Lightning coach Jon Cooper pulled Vasilevskiy after two periods of what turned out to be a 7-3 Rangers victory.
Vasilevskiy fell to 7-9-2 against the Rangers, who are the only Eastern Conference team with a winning record against him, though he did help the Lightning knock out the Blueshirts in six games in the 2022 conference final.
One last shutout for Quick
By the time the Calgary Flames came to the Garden on March 10, speculation was rife that goaltender Jonathan Quick was getting ready to call it a career. Four weeks later, Quick announced his retirement, on April 13. But not before he earned his 65th and final shutout on the second Tuesday in March, blanking the Flames 4-0 before an appreciative crowd at the Garden.
The 40-year-old made 21 saves to become the oldest goalie in Rangers history to record a shutout, surpassing Terry Sawchuk. He also passed Rangers legend Henrik Lundqvist for 17th in NHL history in career shutouts.
Quick, who retired with 410 wins (12th all-time, and most among U.S.-born goalies) will likely join both of them in the Hockey Hall of Fame a few years down the road.
Garand leads “Night of Firsts” at Garden”
Dylan Garand spent most of four seasons in the American Hockey League with the Hartford Wolf Pack before finally making his NHL debut at MSG against the Winnipeg Jets on March 22, when he made 35 saves and was named the game’s First Star in a 3-2 shootout loss.
Garand was back in the net five nights later when the Chicago Blackhawks came to the Garden, and this time his teammates gave him more help en-route to his first NHL win. Six players scored and the 23-year-old goaltender made 27 saves in a 6-1 Rangers victory that ended an 0-5-1 slide.
He was one of three Rangers rookies to have a “first” that night. Forward Adam Sykora scored his first NHL goal and defenseman Drew Fortescue made his NHL debut (and had an assist). It was the first time since Nov. 10, 1932, that three different Rangers each recorded such milestones in the same game.
Sunday night party at the Garden
Scoring at Madison Square Garden was a problem for the Rangers most of the season. April 5, the last Sunday night home game of the season, was a rare exception.
The Washington Capitals came to the Garden still hoping to grab a playoff berth. Instead, the Rangers enjoyed their biggest offensive outburst of the season, demolishing their Metropolitan Division rivals 8-1.
The game was even at 1-1 after 20 minutes before the Rangers blew things open with five goals in the second period. Will Cuylle led the way with his first NHL hat trick, Adam Fox scored a goal and had two assists, and Zibanejad set up three goals. In all, 14 of New York’s 18 skaters hit the score sheet. For a team that finished 14-20-7 at home, it was a night for the Rangers and their fans to celebrate.
… and five others to forget
Embarrassed by the Bruins
Mike Sullivan was hoping to get his 500th NHL coaching victory in his home town when the Rangers visited TD Garden on Jan. 10 for a Saturday afternoon meeting with the Boston Bruins. Instead, they became the only team this season to allow an opponent to hit double figures.
The afternoon started well enough – Zibanejad scored 1:24 into the game to put New York up 1-0. The Blueshirts should have gone home after that, as the Bruins repeatedly filled the net against Quick and Spencer Martin in an embarrassing 10-2 loss. It was the most goals the Bruins scored against the Rangers since their 10-3 win at Boston Garden on March 10, 1977.
Boston rookie Marat Khusnutdinov scored four goals and David Pastrnak had six assists. The best appraisal of the Blueshirts’ play came from former Rangers center turned ABC analyst Ray Ferraro, who said his old team “looked helpless.”
Swept by the Islanders
Rangers fans were jubilant last April when the their team completed a season-series sweep of the archrival Islanders – though ironically, finishing behind the Blueshirts put the Isles in the right position to win the NHL Draft Lottery.
Bolstered by the addition of that No. 1 overall pick, defenseman Matthew Schaefer, the Isles completed a sweep of the Rangers with a 2-1 win at the Garden on Jan. 29 – one night after their 5-2 win at UBS Arena.
Schaefer scored what proved to be the game-winner; it came 1:35 after defenseman Carson Soucy scored against his old team, two games after the Rangers shipped him to Long Island.
It was the first time since 2017-18 that the Islanders swept the season series against the Rangers.
Almost history — the wrong kind
Luckily for the Rangers, the NHL reviews video and adjusts game stats. The review of their 2-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators at the Garden on March 23 was all that stood between the Blueshirts and some unwanted history.
The final score sheet showed that the Rangers managed all of nine shots on goal. It was their lowest output since 1955 — and the fewest by any NHL team in more than two decades, predating the salary cap.
That’s the story fans read and heard — until the NHL adjusted the numbers the next day, giving the Rangers one more shot on goal. But nine shots or 10, “We just didn’t have it,” Zibanejad said. “I don’t know what to say. We got outplayed, got outcompeted — things that we’re just not OK with as a group.”
No-show vs. Bolts
Igor Shesterkin should have sued his teammates for non-support on the afternoon of Nov. 29. He was just about the only Rangers player who bothered to show up and play against the Lightning, who avenged their blowout loss to the Blueshirts at home 17 days earlier by toying with New York in a 4-1 win at the Garden.
The score didn’t come close to indicating the Lightning’s dominance. The Bolts outshot the Rangers 35-13, and only an excellent performance by Shesterkin kept the game from being a blowout.
To make things worse, Fox sustained an upper-body injury in the third period on a clean shoulder-to-shoulder check by Brandon Hagel; he didn’t finish the game and missed a month of action.
One lost point, two lost stars
Fox got back into the lineup on Dec. 31, but his return didn’t last long – and this time, he had company.
It was bad enough that the Utah Mammoth came to the Garden on Jan. 5 and left with a 3-2 overtime victory. Low-scoring defenseman Sean Durzi got the game-winner 1:06 into OT against Quick, who entered the game after Shesterkin left in the first period with a lower-body injury and had to be helped off the ice.
Fox played 23:50 in that game, though he never saw the ice in overtime. Unfortunately for the Rangers, he joined Shesterkin in missing the rest of the Rangers’ pre-Olympic schedule with a lower-body injury.
The Rangers lost 11 of 13 games (2-11-0) without their No. 1 goalie and top defenseman. By the time they returned after the break, the Blueshirts’ playoff hopes were long gone, Drury announced a retool, and Panarin was traded.
