Rangers Week Ahead: Christmas break comes at right time
Perhaps no NHL team needs the three-day Christmas break more than the New York Rangers.
They ended a week that featured five games in seven days with a 2-1 loss to the Predators in Nashville on Sunday night. Their visit to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, the last day before the break, will be their seventh game in 11 days – a stretch that would wear down almost any team.
New York looked like a weary team in Nashville. The Rangers were outplayed all night and had a chance to win only because goaltender Jonathan Quick was brilliant, stopping 30 of 31 shots – the lone one to beat him was a perfect wrister by Filip Forsberg midway through the second period.
The Rangers needed a gem from Quick to have a chance to win on a night they were down three forwards – J.T. Miller didn’t make the trip because of an upper-body injury sustained in a 5-4 shootout win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, and Gabe Perreault and Matt Rempe missed the game due to illness. That forced coach Mike Sullivan to dress a lineup with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
Ironically, it was the goal Quick didn’t allow that proved to be the game-winner. Steven Stamkos’ long-distance empty-netter with 48 seconds left made it 2-0, meaning that Jonny Brodzinski’s goal 11 seconds later on the Rangers’ 17th and final shot on goal merely prevented their eighth shutout loss of the season. It was the fourth time this season the Rangers came up short against a team at the bottom of the NHL standings and dropped them to 18-16-4 overall — and 0-6-1 in the second half of back-to-back games.
It also ended a frantic week that saw the Rangers lose 4-1 to the Anaheim Ducks and 3-0 to the Vancouver Canucks on consecutive nights at Madison Square Garden before a 2-1 overtime win against the Blues in St. Louis and the shootout win Saturday afternoon in their final home game of 2025.
However, the win against the Flyers — when the Rangers overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period –proved costly. Miller sustained an upper-body injury in the third period and is week to week, according to NHL.com.
Who’s hot
Quick continues to be one of the top backup goalies in the League, though his 3-5-1 record might indicate otherwise. He lost both his decisions last week despite allowing three goals on 47 shots.
Who’s not
Alexis Lafreniere’s underlying stats may be good, but he’s not putting points on the score sheet. He has one assist and is minus-4 in his past seven games. Seven goals and 18 points in 37 games isn’t nearly enough production for a top-six forward – especially one who was the first player taken in his draft year (2020).
Rangers lookahead this week includes …
Games 2 and 3 of a six-game road trip sandwiching the three-day Christmas break.
Rangers at Washington Capitals (Dec. 23, 7 p.m.; MSG2)
The Rangers pay the first of two visits to Capital One Arena in an eight-day span looking to avenge a 1-0 loss at the Garden on Oct. 12 and end a four-game losing streak to their Metropolitan Division rival. They’re 0-4-0 in their past four visits to our nation’s capital.
The Capitals come off a home-and-home weekend sweep by the Detroit Red Wings and are 1-3-2 in their past six games. They’ve scored just 11 goals in that span and surrendered five goals in each of the three regulation losses.
Mika Zibanejad had one of three five-goal games in Rangers history against the Capitals on March 5, 2020; he has 19 goals and 36 points in 48 career games against them. Alex Ovechkin, the all-time NHL goal-scoring leader, has 46 goals in 77 games against the Rangers.
Rangers at New York Islanders (Dec. 27, 6 p.m., MSGSN/MSG2)
NHL teams can’t practice or travel during the Christmas break, so being the visiting team on the day play resumes can be a hassle – unless you’re playing an opponent that’s less than 20 miles away. The Rangers are lucky in that regard; they resume their season with a visit to the archrival Islanders at UBS Arena.
Each team seeks some revenge. The Islanders rolled to a 5-0 victory at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 8, and the Rangers embarrassed them in a 9-2 win in their last visit to UBS on April 10 last season.
This figures to be another battle between frenemies Igor Shesterkin of the Rangers and Ilya Sorokin of the Islanders. Sorokin got the better of his fellow Russian goalie in the shutout victory, which ended the Blueshirts’ five-game winning streak against their suburban rivals. Shesterkin is 7-2-0 against the Islanders since the start of the 2023-24 season.
Artemi Panarin feats on the Islanders, with 18 goals and 47 points in 39 games – including five goals and seven points last season, when the Rangers won all four games. Defenseman Adam Fox, who’s been out since sustaining an upper-body injury on Nov. 29, is eligible to come off long-term injured reserve for this game, though it’s unknown if he needs a little more time before returning.
