NEW YORK — This is becoming the worst kind of déjà vu for the New York Rangers.
Another game at Madison Square Garden, another deflating loss in which they failed to score and heard scattered boos on their way off the ice.
It might not even matter that Saturday’s 5-0 defeat came at the hands of the rival New York Islanders. Every loss stings equally when you’ve set a franchise record by going seven straight games without a win (0-6-1) on home ice to open a season. That surpasses the 1943-44 Rangers, who won a franchise-worst six of 50 total games that season, and the 1950-51 Rangers, who won only 20 of 70. Not exactly the company they’d like to be keeping.
“If it doesn’t wear on you, something’s wrong,” said coach Mike Sullivan, who’s still searching for his first win on the home bench at MSG. “That’s the way I look at it. It’s wearing on all of us. We want to pride ourselves in being a good team at home. We want to compete hard for the fan base that supports us. So I don’t think there’s any question it’s wearing on guys.”
The contrast between home and away is staggering.
The Rangers (7-7-2) own the NHL’s worst home record this season — duh — and yet hold the league’s best mark on the road (7-1-1). They were coming off a convincing 4-1 win in Detroit over the Red Wings, only to get boatraced by their Long Island neighbor 24 hours later.
“I watched a team last night play in Detroit that had a solid team game, that had a lot of collective effort and cooperative play out there,” said a flabbergasted Sullivan.
That team game faltered Saturday, with the Rangers getting burned by a few odd-man rushes after doing a commendable job of cutting those down for the first month of the season. But their biggest issue stems from an offense that ranks among the NHL’s worst in several categories.
The Rangers have been shut out in five of their first seven games at the Garden, joining the since-defunct 1928-29 Pittsburgh Pirates as the only other team to accomplish that woeful feat. The Rangers scored five goals in an overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 23, but otherwise have only one tally in the other six home games combined.
There’s a larger conversation to be had about a roster that’s far too reliant on an underperforming core and has been stripped of its secondary scoring, with the onus falling squarely on team president Chris Drury. But it’s also become clear that a mental block has set in at MSG, with the Rangers succumbing to the pressure as the winless streak grows into an infectious narrative.
“We’re humans,” captain J.T. Miller said. “It’s hard. We all care.”
“It’s a lot of zeros at home for us,” he added. “We say all the right things about keep trusting the process, trusting the process. But the longer you go without getting the result, it becomes a very hard thing. We need to be mentally tough. Don’t point fingers. It’s on us. Let it soak a little.”
Here are eight more observations from the Rangers’ latest home-ice disappointment:
1. Stop if you’ve heard this before: The Rangers had chances; they just couldn’t finish. Fans are understandably getting sick of taking solace in expected goals, and it’s not like Saturday was chock full of them (2.9, according to Natural Stat Trick). But there were a few great looks in the opening minutes that could have changed the complexion of the game.
It started on the first shift, with Artemi Panarin rimming a puck along the boards that resulted in a Mika Zibanejad one-timer. Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin made the initial pad save, but it led to a juicy rebound for Panarin. Somehow, Sorokin fought it off with his blocker to set the tone for a frustrating period.
“I thought we had a great start,” Sullivan said. “The first 10 or 12 minutes, we were playing on our toes, playing the game that we wanted to play. I think after that, we mismanaged the puck. For me tonight, we beat ourselves.”
Huge stop by Sorokin on Panarin to start the game pic.twitter.com/ZlgGgfvWtm
— Rob Taub (@RTaub_) November 9, 2025
2. It was an especially eventful first period for Zibanejad, who, a few minutes later, made a strong move through traffic and fired a quick wrist shot off the crossbar. He missed a one-timer wide on the same shift and slammed the door in frustration after returning to the bench. The 32-year-old tied for the team lead with five shots on goal and has probably been its best forward through 16 games, but the production hasn’t matched his solid all-around play.
Zibanejad is sitting on eight points (four goals and four assists) and shooting just 7.8 percent, which ties for the worst shooting percentage since his 2012-13 rookie season with the Ottawa Senators. Is it a case of bad luck or fractured finishing confidence? Probably a combination of the two.
“I probably can do a better job of not getting caught in that and feel sorry for myself, or dwell on the missed chances,” Zibanejad said.
3. Zibanejad got into good scoring positions a few times, but other than that, the Rangers’ best players were mostly missing in action against the Isles. Miller didn’t look sharp, fumbling a few pucks and whiffing on at least one prime shot attempt during a second-period power play. The same can be said for Adam Fox, who registered a team-worst minus-three rating, had five of his seven shot attempts blocked and rarely had the puck on his stick until the game was out of reach.
Panarin went back to being held off the scoresheet, failing to build on Friday’s three-point showing by turning in his seventh game without a point in his last eight and 11th of the season. If those guys aren’t driving the offense, the Rangers are, well, in big trouble.
4. The backbreaker came at the end of the first period when a neutral-zone gaffe handed the Islanders a 2-0 lead. It started with Vladislav Gavrikov passing the puck to Zibanejad as he attempted to weave through center ice. Zibanejad proceeded to force the puck to Panarin along the boards, but Isles defenseman Scott Mayfield was within arm’s reach and poked it away with his stick. That sprung a two-on-one rush, with Anthony Duclair sliding a pass to Jonathan Drouin for a one-timer with 33 seconds remaining in the period. That’s about as deflating as it gets.
“As soon as they score one, they get two, and then I feel like we were pressing,” Zibanejad said. “We’re kind of getting away from our game. I think we’re gripping onto our sticks a little bit too much. And, yeah, I understand we’re professionals. We get paid. We were supposed to be able to handle it, but right now, we’re in it and can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve just got to find a way.”
An outstanding sequence right here.
Heads up stick from Mayfield
The strength from Pageau
Fantastic feed from Duclair and finish from Drouin#Isles pic.twitter.com/DVhYaTZGZX
— Rob Taub (@RTaub_) November 9, 2025
5. Bo Horvat added his second goal of the game on a power play with 1:18 remaining in the second period. That extended the Isles’ lead to 3-0 and dashed the Rangers’ slim hopes of a comeback. Add in Anders Lee’s goal with 30 seconds remaining in the third, and the Rangers have allowed 10 goals in the final two minutes of a period through 16 games.
6. I should preface this thought by pointing out that Sullivan has been among the least of the Rangers’ problems. In fact, he’s done an admirable job, particularly when it comes to tightening what had been one of the league’s worst defenses. But while I understand (and largely agree with) why he wants them to play more direct and improve their “puck-pursuit game,” as he’s emphasized several times, I wonder if it’s inadvertently taken away some of their offensive creativity. The NHL’s best teams excel at playing a smothering defensive game, but they also make high-skill plays.
There have been times when it feels like the Rangers are overcorrecting, including multiple occasions Saturday when they opted to needlessly chip pucks rather than attempt to string passes together. Often, that put it right back into the Islanders’ hands while forcing the Rangers to play on their heels. It’s important to establish a consistent forecheck, but at times, the get-pucks-deep mantra may be coming at the expense of entering the offensive zone with possession.
“Are we trying to play a north-south game? Yes, but by no means does that mean we’re a dump-and-chase team,” Sullivan said asked Thursday. “What we don’t want is reckless hockey if the plays aren’t there, and then we’re forcing plays and we’re feeding the teams and opponents’ transition game. And that’s where we’ve got to make good choices and make good decisions in that area. … When we can’t, we’ve got to be willing to play behind teams and create offense different ways.”
7. Then again, these Rangers have a history of making poor decisions and sloppy passes that get them burned in transition, which Sullivan identified as a key problem Saturday. They were charged with 15 giveaways, with three of the Isles’ five goals coming off the rush.
“This is one of the better teams at generating chances off the rush,” Sullivan said. “We talked about it before the game. The most important aspect of that is managing the puck — making them play goal line to goal line, and not three-quarters of the rink. And we did none of the above.”
8. Adam Edström was scratched for the second consecutive game as he deals with “bumps and bruises,” according to Sullivan. With Edström and Matt Rempe (upper-body injury) out, the fourth line has become an afterthought. Juuso Pärssinen, Sam Carrick and rookie Jaroslav Chmelař logged only 6:37 time on ice together Saturday, according to Natural Stat Trick, with Chmelař limited to no more than 8:00 in each of his first two NHL games.
That line’s usage had been trending up before Rempe’s injury on Oct. 23, but the balance has been disrupted, with the burden largely falling on the top-three lines. Chmelař has shown a willingness to get to the greasy areas (and drop the gloves), including a put-back attempt early in Saturday’s third period, but he’ll probably be assigned to AHL Hartford when Vincent Trocheck returns from an upper-body injury that’s kept him out for a full month, which should be soon. That, in turn, should provide some much-needed depth.