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Rangers Week Ahead: Home at last after another Winter Classic win
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- Rangers Week Ahead: Home at last after another Winter Classic win
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The New York Rangers had a couple of days to enjoy their historic 5-1 Winter Classic win against the Florida Panthers at loanDepot Park in Miami on Friday night. They'll get back to work Monday when the Utah Mammoth come to Madison Square Garden, beginning a busy stretch of 13 games in 27 days on the Rangers schedule though the end of January.
Playing outdoors was just what the Rangers needed to wash away the bad taste of three straight road losses (0-2-1) coming out of the Christmas break. That included a 3-2 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes and a 6-3 loss to the Washington Capitals in a New Year's Eve matinee.
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But the line of Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere combined for 12 points to help the Rangers stay perfect in outdoor games; they are 3-0-0 in the Winter Classic and 6-0-0 overall. The outcome delighted thousands of the Rangers' faithful who made the trip to South Florida.
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Unfortunately for the Blueshirts, they haven't been nearly as proficient indoors – especially at the Garden, where their 5-10-3 record is the worst in the Eastern Conference. With 23 of their remaining 39 games at home, this is a trend that can't continue if the Rangers want to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs after missing the postseason in 2024-25.
The Rangers are two points out of the second wild card in the East , but with seven teams between them and the Pittsburgh Penguins , who hold the last playoff position after completing a sweep of the Detroit Red Wings with a 4-1 win Saturday.
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Who's Hot
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Who else but Zibanejad, who had the first hat trick in the history of the Winter Classic and the first five-point game in any NHL outdoor contest.
Who's Not
Gabe Perreault has yet to make any significant impact in his 10 games with the Rangers this season. He was brought up from AHL Hartford to boost the offense but has just one goal (on a shot that hit his skate and went in) and four assists. He's not driving play and averages less than 14 minutes of ice time.
Rangers lookahead this week includes …
The first two home games in a stretch that will see the Rangers play four of five at the Garden, sandwiched around a Saturday matinee against the Bruins in Boston .
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Utah Mammoth at Rangers (Jan. 5, 7 p.m.; MSG)
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The Mammoth come to MSG for the first time since the second game in their history (after the Arizona Coyotes franchise was sold and relocated to Sat Lake City). The Mammoth, then known as the Utah Hockey Club, stunned the Rangers 6-5 on Oct. 12, 2024, when Clayton Keller scored 4:05 into overtime.
The Rangers took the rematch 5-3 at Delta Center on Jan. 16, but Utah won the first meeting between the teams this season, edging the visiting Rangers 3-2 on Nov. 22.
Utah split the first two games of its swing through the Metropolitan area, defeating the Islanders 7-2 last Thursday and losing 4-1 to the Devils on Newark on Saturday. The Mammoth, like the Rangers in the East, are among a pile of teams battling for a wild-card position in the West.
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Panarin has five goals in New York's three games against the Mammoth (the NHL doesn't count stats against the Coyotes franchise in Utah's numbers). Keller has great success against the Rangers; he scored in the win at Utah in November and has 10 goals and 17 points in 14 games against them.
Buffalo Sabres at Rangers (Jan. 8, 7 p.m.; MSG)
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The Rangers blanked the Sabres 4-0 in Buffalo on Oct. 9 in their second game of the season. They looked like a team that was on the way back to the postseason, and the Sabres appeared headed for their 15th consecutive playoff miss.
What a difference three months can make.
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Buffalo matched a franchise record by running off 10 straight wins in December before losing 5-1 to the columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday, and at 21-15-4 they're one point ahead of the Rangers with three games in hand. The Sabres are a different team since firing GM Kevyn Adams on Dec. 15 and replacing him with Jarmo Kekalainen.
One key to the Sabres surge was the play of goalie Alex Lyon , but he's out indefinitely with a lower-body injury sustained in their 4-2 win against the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 29. That leaves Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as the likely starter against the Rangers.
Igor Shesterkin is 11-3-2 lifetime against the Sabres with a 2.41 goals-against average and .920 save percentage. Adam Fox scored in the win at Buffalo, giving him 26 points (four goals, 22 assists) in 22 games vs. the Sabres
Rangers at Boston Bruins (Jan. 10, 1 p.m.; ABC)
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The Rangers would like a repeat of their last visit to TD Garden; they walloped the Bruins 6-2 on Black Friday behind a four-point effort by Panarin and a three-assist afternoon by Fox.
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It was the Rangers' sixth win in their past seven games against the Bruins , another team that's splashing around in the mushy middle of the NHL stanidngs. That includes a 3-1-0 mark in their last four visits to Boston.
New York typically shuts down Morgan Geekie , whose goal in the Black Friday loss was just his second in 11 career games against the Rangers. David Pastrnak didn't score in that game, but has 40 points (18 goals, 22 assists) in 38 games against New York.
Panarin's big game made him a point-per-game player against Boston; he has 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) in 28 games. Shesterkin excelled in the earlier win but is just 6-8-0 against the Bruins; Jonathan Quick, who was injured and missed the earlier game, has fared much better (14-6-1, 2.34 GAA, .921 save percentage).
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