{"id":434468,"date":"2026-01-28T09:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T09:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/434468\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T09:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T09:05:13","slug":"rangers-looking-to-end-scoreless-drought-vs-islanders-thats-epitomized-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/434468\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers looking to end scoreless drought vs. Islanders that’s epitomized season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The season series against the Islanders so far has been a microcosm of much of the regular season for the Rangers.<\/p>\n

That is to say a low-scoring, unwatchable disaster.<\/p>\n

After getting shut out twice by their Long Island rivals in each of the first two head-to-head meetings earlier this season, Mike Sullivan\u2019s last-place team will look to get onto the scoreboard and perhaps into the win column with a home-and-home set against the Islanders beginning Wednesday night at UBS Arena.<\/p>\n

In fact, the sleepy 2-0 loss to Islanders backup goalie David Rittich<\/a> in Elmont out of the Christmas break began the current tailspin, a 3-9-2 stretch that has sent the Rangers spiraling to the worst record in the Eastern Conference. <\/p>\n

Ilya Sorokin had blanked them in a 5-0 rout at the Garden in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if there\u2019s a common thread,\u201d Sullivan said after practice Tuesday in Tarrytown. \u201cWe played them early in the season, and I feel like we went through a stretch of games where we were producing offense, we just weren\u2019t scoring. I don\u2019t think it was just against the Islanders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, the Rangers (22-25-6 overall) had been zipped a league-high eight times over the first 41 games of the season through their most recent loss to the Islanders, which put them on pace at the time to equal the NHL record of 16 shutouts in one season by the 2006-07 Blue Jackets.<\/p>\n

\"IlyaIlya Sorokin defends the net against Artemi Panarin during the Rangers\u2019 5-0 loss to the Islanders on Nov. 8, 2025. Robert Sabo for New York POst<\/p>\n

Despite winning just three of their next 14 games, the Rangers at least haven\u2019t added to the shutout skein thereafter, including a 4-3 overtime win against the Bruins on Monday night at the Garden.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our team has done a better job scoring goals at 5-on-5 and on the power play,\u201d Sullivan added. \u201cI think we\u2019ve got to continue to work at getting better on the defensive side of the puck, and being stingier defensively. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s an aspect of our game, where for a long stretch of the season, we were pretty good and we valued it, and we were committed to it. I think that\u2019s something that we\u2019ve gotta continue to work at.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Rittich makes a save during the Islanders\u2019 2-0 win over the Rangers on Dec. 27, 2025. Robert Sabo for New York Post<\/p>\n

One defenseman no longer with the Rangers is veteran Carson Soucy, who was dealt to the Islanders<\/a> for a 2026 third-round pick after sitting out Monday\u2019s game against Boston.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, his first two games with his new team could come against his old one<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose aren\u2019t situations you draw up, but I think we have a job to do and have to stay focused and these are really gonna be two fun games to play in,\u201d captain J.T. Miller said. \u201cObviously we\u2019ll worry about [Wednesday\u2019s game first, and we\u2019re gonna try to keep it going with some of this good energy from last game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead the expert take on the Blueshirts\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Rangers, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Still, barring a dramatic turnaround on either side of the upcoming Olympic break, the Soucy trade figures to be the first of many moves made by general manager Chris Drury ahead of the March 6 trade deadline, with big names such as leading scorer and pending free agent Artemi Panarin potentially on the move.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not what our standards are here. We want to win. We want to be competing in the playoffs every year, so it\u2019s tough,\u201d winger Will Cuylle said. \u201cWe just have to try to come to the rink and worry about the things you can control and make sure you\u2019re bringing the best version of yourself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to focus on the present. Try to stay focused; not look too far ahead. I try to concentrate on one game at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The season series against the Islanders so far has been a microcosm of much of the regular season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[394,4823,385,99],"class_list":["post-434468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}