Rangers Week Ahead highlighted by Artemi Panarin’s return to MSG
The New York Rangers are enjoying their best run of the 2025-26 season. The Blueshirts swept their four games last week, including a 4-2 road win against the powerful Minnesota Wild on Saturday, and are 6-1-2 since the NHL resumed play after the Olympic break.
They’ll play four more games this week as part of a grind that includes nine games in a stretch of 15 days – and on Monday night, they’ll welcome back the subject of perhaps their biggest trade in the past decade.
Artemi Panarin makes his return to Madison Square Garden when the Los Angeles Kings come to Madison Square Garden to complete their swing through the New York area. Panarin was on his way to leading the Rangers in scoring for the seventh straight season when the Blueshirts dealt him to the Kings on Feb. 4.
Panarin is unquestionably the best free-agent signing in franchise history. But GM Chris Drury had told the 34-year-old Russian forward, who could have become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, that they weren’t going to re-sign him. Panarin had a no-movement clause in his contract and told Drury the only team he would accept a trade to was the Kings.
The game begins a stretch that will see the Rangers play 11 of their next 13 games at home. One of the two road games comes on Thursday, when the Rangers visit another playoff contender, the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Panarin’s departure hasn’t hurt the Rangers’ offense. They’ve scored at least four goals in all seven games this month – and won five of them.
Young players such as Alexis Lafreniere and Gabe Perreault that New York is counting on as keys to the “retool” that Drury announced in his letter to fans on Jan. 16 are generating goals, while the defense has improved with the return of Adam Fox from injury and the goaltending of Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick remains solid.
At 28-30-8, making the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season would take multiple miracles. But with the kids leading the way, the Rangers are giving their fans hope for 2026-27.
Who’s Hot
Igor Shesterkin has won four straight starts and has looked like his old self since returning from injury after the Olympic break. He stood on his head in the win at Minnesota, making a season-high 46 saves in a game the Rangers were outshot 42-9 after the first period.
Who’s Not
The Rangers scored 20 goals in their four wins last week — but Will Cuylle wasn’t involved in any of them. He was pointless and minus-2.
Rangers lookahead this week includes …
Another four-game week, though this time three of the four are at home. There’s a midweek back-to-back and an early start Sunday.
Los Angeles Kings at Rangers (March 16, 7 p.m., MSG)
Panarin is sure to get the video salute and a standing ovation during the first media timeout. Both are well-earned after everything he accomplished in nearly seven full seasons on Broadway – 607 points in 42 games, 120 points in 2023-24 (second-highest single-season total in team history) and a key role in the Rangers’ trips to the Eastern Conference Final in 2022 and 2024.
But before coming to New York in July 2019, Panarin was lethal against the Rangers – he had 12 goals and 18 points in 12 games during his time with the Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets.
The game means a lot more to the Kings than the Rangers – LA is one of four teams battling for the second wild card in the Western Conference. Los Angeles is 4-0-0 in its previous four games against New York, including a 5-1 win in its last visit to the Garden on Dec. 14, 2024, and a 4-3 win in LA on Jan. 20.
J.T. Miller scored twice in the loss at Los Angeles and has 10 goals and 29 points in 28 games against the Kings. Goalie Darcy Kuemper, who was injured in the first period of that game, is 10-4-0 lifetime against the Rangers.
New Jersey Devils at Rangers (March 18, 7 p.m., MSG)
The Rangers’ strategy for beating their cross-river rivals has one key: Shut down Jack Hughes.
The first player taken in the 2019 draft may be an Olympic hero after scoring the Golden Goal for Team USA last month, but he’s an arch-villain to the Rangers, who’ve never found a way to shut him down. Hughes had a hat trick and an assist in New Jersey’s 6-3 win in Newark on March 7, giving him 19 goals and 32 points in 24 games against the Blueshirts. That includes eight goals in four games since the start of last season.
Hughes isn’t the only Devil who’s thrived against the Rangers. Jacob Markstrom was in net for the Hughes-powered victory and is 13-4-3 lifetime against New York with a 2.17 goals-against average and .923 save percentage.
New Jersey is 4-0-1 against the Rangers since the start of last season, including two shutout wins. Mika Zibanejad leads New York with 16 goals and 42 points in 49 career games against the Devils.
Rangers at Columbus Blue Jackets (March 19, 7 p.m., MSG)
The Rangers will hop on a plane right after hosting the Devils and fly to Columbus, where they’ll face one of the NHL’s hottest teams – and one that needs every point it can get as it chases a playoff berth.
The Blue Jackets enter the week on a 16-2-4 roll that’s carried them within one point of the second wild card in the Eastern Conference and two shy of second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Jackets’ hot streak includes a 5-4 overtime win at the Garden on March 2 — a game that saw the Rangers earn a point after entering the third period down 4-0, only to have Kirill Marchenko score in overtime to give Columbus the extra point.
The season series is even at 1-0-1; the Rangers won 2-1 in a shootout at Nationwide Arena on Nov. 15 – the Blue Jackets’ lone loss in seven tiebreakers.
Perreault had the biggest game of his brief NHL career in the OT loss earlier this month, scoring twice and assisting on another goal.
Winnipeg Jets at Rangers (March 22, 12 p.m., MSG)
It’s an early call for the Jets and Rangers (the NBA Knicks get the night gig) as the teams play for the second time in 10 days. The Rangers will try for a sweep of the two-game season series after winning 6-3 in Winnipeg on March 12.
The Rangers’ kids fueled that win – the last five goals were scored by players 25 and under. They scored four times in the third period to blow open a game that was tied 2-2 through 40 minutes. One reason the Rangers won was that they shut down Jets center Mark Scheifele, who has 15 goals in 21 career games against New York. But the Rangers scored five times on 16 shots against Connor Hellebuyck, who led Team USA to Olympic gold but has gone from NHL MVP and Vezina Trophy winner to a sub-.500 goalie this season.
The Jets are 3-0-0 in their past three visits to the Garden since a 3-0 loss on April 19, 2022. They’re four points out of a playoff berth in the West and are trying to avoid matching the same dubious “accomplishment” the Rangers had last season – going from Presidents’ Trophy winners to missing the postseason.
