Why Rangers home woes at ‘snake pit’ Madison Square Garden not so surprising
Six weeks into the 2025-26 season, the New York Rangers are the NHL version of Jekyll and Hyde. They seemingly have a split personality as it pertains to their results at home and on the road.
The Rangers are tied for the most road wins (nine) in the League with the Los Angeles Kings, and are one point behind them for most road points (20-19), The Blueshirts are 9-1-1 away from the Garden, and the Kings are 9-1-2 on the road.
Conversely, the Rangers are 1-7-1 on home ice, worst in the League, after wasting Jonathan Quick’s brilliant 40-save performance Sunday in a 2-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings. New York was 0-6-1 at MSG before a 6-3 win over the Nashville Predators last Monday, the worst start on home ice in franchise history.
Count former Rangers general manager Neil Smith as someone who’s surprised by the stark home/road splits, but not about the extended struggles at the Garden.
“I can honestly say I could see that happening at Madison Square Garden because you know and I know how tough it can be in that building when things aren’t going well. It is a snake pit when things are not going well,” Smith told Forever Blueshirts on the RINK RAP podcast.
The architect of the 1994 Stanley Cup champion Rangers did add, “Now, it can turn positive on a dime and they’ll be cheering for you like crazy.” But his point is valid. It can get mighty ugly when the Rangers don’t perform well on home ice, and the Blueshirts Faithful let loose with their frustrations.
Smith knows firsthand. By the end of a massively disappointing 1992-93 season, even Mark Messier was booed off the ice in the Garden finale.
More than one former Rangers player in past years told this reporter that, when things are going well, there’s no better building to play in as a home team than Madison Square Garden. But when things are going poorly for the Rangers at home, it quickly becomes a massive impediment to actually play at MSG. The negative momentum is hard to break. Think of sliding down an icy mountain with a direct vertical plane.
This season, the Rangers were shut out in each of their first three home games, and five times total already. They’ve been held to one goal or fewer in seven of nine games at MSG, the lone exceptions being a 6-5 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks and their lone win against the Predators. They scored 13 goals on home ice so far this season.
“I can imagine those players were squeezing their sticks like probably putting fingerprint indentations in them, they were squeezing them so tight, trying to get a goal,” Smith shared. “And probably when they got on the road is when they [exhaled]. They relaxed because they were on the road and didn’t have that pressure over them that was going on at the Garden.”
Former GM unsure ‘what the Rangers are’ or if they’ll make playoffs this season
The Rangers have won six straight road games for the first time since 2019-20, when they won nine in a row. New York’s scored 38 goals on the road and owns a sizeable plus-17 goal differential, after a 2-1 shootout win Saturday in Columbus over the Blue Jackets.
Their defensive play and structure is typically solid, whether at home or on the road. But the Rangers remain much more consistent in all facets of their game away from MSG this season, and are far more effective offensively.
But the home/road splits cause serious concern about where the Rangers are headed this season.
“Jekyll and Hyde. I don’t know what the Rangers are. I can’t figure them out yet,” Smith said. “If somebody asked ‘Are they going to make the playoffs?’ I’d have to say ‘I don’t know. It depends which team shows up.’ So, we’re going to wait and see on that.”
A quarter of the way through the 2025-26 campaign, the Rangers are just outside the top eight in the Eastern Conference. But they need more consistency, and certainly more wins at home, because the East playoff race is jam-packed, with only two teams under NHL-.500.
The Rangers must keep up their strong road play this week, when they embark on a challenging three-game trip against the Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche, and Utah Mammoth. Each upcoming opponent has a better record than the Rangers, including the Avalanche (13-1-5), who sit atop the NHL standings.
Once December rolls around, the Rangers schedule gets home-heavy. They’ll play seven of their first 10 games next month at the Garden, which is a chance to turn things around, or could be doomsday for the Blueshirts.
