New York Rangers week ahead includes only Original 6 matchups
The New York Rangers enter the first full week of the new NHL season with a 1-0-1 record that included one near-perfect effort and one sloppy one.
The near-perfect performance came on Wednesday, when the Rangers opened their season by demolishing the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-0 at PPG Paints Arena. Newcomer Sam Carrick scored the season’s first goal and Igor Shesterkin wasn’t tested a whole lot after the first 10 minutes or so as he became the first Rangers goalie since Gump Worsley in 1956-57 to have a season-opening shutout.
The home opener three nights later against the Utah Hockey Club (last season’s Arizona Coyotes) ended up as a sloppy 6-5 overtime loss when Clayton Keller scored at 4:05 of OT. The Rangers got a point after trailing 5-3, so it wasn’t all bad. But Keller’s OT goal, a play that saw all three Rangers unaccountably leave the Utah captain by himself behind the net to come out and whip a high backhander past Shesterkin, capsulized their effort.
Still, a 1-0-1 start is good enough for second place in points (3) and a tie for first in points percentage (.750) in the Metropolitan Division as the Rangers prepare for an all-Original Six week.
Who’s Hot
It looks like Artemi Panarin’s 120-point season in 2023-24 was no fluke. Panarin had two assists on opening night in Pittsburgh and scored two goals against Utah. Panarin had an NHL career-high 303 shots on goal last season; he’s continuing to fire away, with 17 attempts and six shots on goal through two games.
Defenseman Adam Fox had the primary assist on three of the five goals against Utah and is plus-3 after two games.
Second-year forward Will Cuylle made the most of his 12:12 of ice time against Utah, scoring his first goal of the season, assisting on another and finishing plus-3.
Who’s Not
Mika Zibanejad has to pick up his game. Zibanejad had no points and one shot on goal in the first two games and was minus-4 against Utah.
Related: Rangers NCAA prospect report, including Gabe Perreault’s fast start
Rangers lookahead this week includes …
It’s a three-game week for New York, with the second and third games on the road. The Rangers begin with a home-and-home set with the Detroit Red Wings before a Saturday night visit to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Detroit Red Wings at Rangers (Oct. 14, 7 p.m. ET; MSG/NHL Network)
The Rangers start their week with the first of a home-and-home series against the Red Wings at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers swept their three-game series with the Wings last season and are 9-1-2 against Detroit in their past 12 games. This is the Red Wings’ lone visit to MSG this season, and the season series concludes on Nov. 9. One opponent the Rangers may not see is veteran goaltender Ville Husso, who was placed on waivers Sunday as the Red Wings try to do some cap gymnastics to cope with the injury to forward Christian Fischer. Expect a good game from Panarin, who has 32 points (12 goals, 20 assists) in 22 career games against the Red Wings.
Rangers at Detroit Red Wings (Oct. 17, 7:30 p.m. ET; Hulu/ESPN+)
The Red Wings and Rangers move to Little Caesars Arena for the rematch on Thursday. The Rangers are 4-1-3 at Little Caesars since the building opened in the fall of 2017 but are still 82-168-46-10 all-time in Detroit. Shesterkin has played well in his limited opportunities against the Wings, going 4-0-1 with a 1.58 goals-against average, .936 save percentage and one shutout. Don’t be surprised if he starts both games.
Rangers at Toronto Maple Leafs (Oct. 19, 7:30 p.m. ET; MSG/NHL Network)
The Rangers pay their only visit of the season to Scotiabank Arena for a Saturday night showdown against the Maple Leafs and Auston Matthews. The Rangers are 8-5-1 in Toronto since the start of the 2014-15 season; six of the past 10 games have gone past regulation, with the Rangers winning four of the six.
New York has done a relatively good job against Matthews, who has 368 goals in 565 regular-season games since entering the NHL in 2016, limiting him to nine goals and 21 points in 21 games – although he scored four times and had seven points against the Rangers last season.
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