Rangers feeling blue at the Garden entering busy January home slate
Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin sprays his face with water during a break in action against the Washington Capitals in the second period of an NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Home sweet home hasn’t been so sweet for the Rangers this season.
After a 1-0-1 trip to Florida over the New Year’s Weekend, the Blueshirts are back home Tuesday to face the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes, winners of 11 straight games. It marked the beginning of a January schedule that has the Rangers playing seven of their 11 games at home, but sees them playing all four current division leaders among those seven games.
In all, five of their home games this month are against teams with winning records, and the Garden hasn’t exactly been a fortress for them this season. They entered Tuesday with a home record of 8-7-4.
“I don’t know why,’’ coach Gerard Gallant said after practice Monday when asked about the team’s home struggles. “Some years you have an unbelievable home record, and things change the next year.’’
The Rangers were 27-10-4 at home last season, on their way to 52 wins and a 110-point regular season. But over their first 38 games, they’ve learned that this is not last season.
Their reverse retro Lady Liberty jerseys haven’t helped matters, by the way. They’re 1-5 at home while wearing those.
Still, they were 20-12-6 entering Tuesday. What’s kept them afloat has been their play on the road, where they are 12-5-2 after taking three of a possible four points in Florida over the weekend.
“I just think we got on the road, you’re focused on the game,’’ Gallant said. “During the holidays, you weren’t home with family and all that stuff, so maybe the last couple of games, we were focused on playing, and got ready to play. Honestly, it’s hard to pinpoint sometimes . . . But the away record, continue to do that.’’
The home season started with a rousing 3-1 win over Tampa Bay on Opening Night, followed by a businesslike 6-4 win over Anaheim. But then they lost at home to lowly San Jose (and former coach David Quinn) in overtime; were thumped by last-in-the-East Columbus, and lost to the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche (and former Rangers goalie Alexandar Georgiev) in a shootout.
The next home game, they beat the lowly Flyers, 1-0, in overtime. Then they went 1-5-2 in their next eight at home.
The 4-3 loss to Edmonton on Nov. 26 featured a blown three-goal lead in the third period, and two days later, goalie Igor Shesterkin said he was “ashamed’’ of his play after a loss to the Devils. Then, on Dec. 3, they lost, 5-2, to last-overall Chicago, which appears to be tanking this season for a shot at the No. 1 pick overall this summer and the right to draft Connor Bedard.
That seemed like rock bottom. The Rangers were 4-6-4 at home at that point, before they seemed to turn things around with a desperate, come-from-behind win over the Blues on Dec. 5. That started a seven-game overall winning streak that included home wins over the Devils, Maple Leafs and Islanders going into the Christmas break.
But in the first game after the break, they lost to Washington, 4-0, at the Garden. And Gallant said afterward, “We were garbage tonight.’’
Tuesday is the first home game after that, and following it, the Rangers go to Montreal for a game against the 15-19-3 Canadiens Thursday, and then to Newark Saturday for a matinee matchup against the Devils. Then they’re home for three straight against old friend Ryan Reaves and Minnesota (21-13-2), the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars (23-9-6), and a return matchup with the Canadiens.
After a trip to Columbus Jan. 16, they close the month with home games against Atlantic Division-leading Boston, which holds the NHL’s best record, at 29-4-4, followed by the struggling Florida Panthers (16-18-4) and Pacific Division-leading Vegas (26-12-2) in their final game before the All-Star break. They also have a road game in Toronto (23-8-6) on Jan. 25.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
